Old Fashioned Strength and Determination Rather Than Cutting-Edge Products Aided in the Search for Survivors in Japan

They are foregoing their body worn video and facial recognition products for this deployment. Law enforcement professionals from all around the US and world have traveled to disaster-ravaged Japan offering their help. And while they will not be using any cutting-edge biometric products that they are used to using here; their hands, strength and determination will be put more to the test than with any law enforcement product they have previously used.

Immediately after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit on March 11 near the coast of Honshu, Japan, relief efforts began. More than 70 nations offered their help in rebuilding the devastated region. But first, there were survivors to be rescued and people to be accounted for.

Twelve days later relief and recovery efforts are still underway. Help from near and far
has enabled the search and rescue to fan out widely among the many towns that are utterly unrecognizable. In the midst of these teams are several task force teams from the United States and abroad. California and Virgina elite search and rescue groups, as well as teams from France, Britain and Germany are all apart of the efforts - searching through rubble hoping to find survivors.

We offer our support to these elite groups of rescue professionals, as well as our sincere empathy and condolences to those affected by this tragedy. We are proud to be a part of the public safety community of which the special task forces initiated.
~~~
Photo CourtesyL.A.CountyFire/CaliforniaTaskForce

Fingerprint Systems in Schools at Debate Again

We've posted before about the fingerprint scanning of children in order to pay for their school lunches in Ohio Schools.  We've also posted about the prevalence of biometric tracking of children in UK schools for everything from attendance to paying for lunches.  It seems this trend is gaining momentum rather than losing to its opposes, as we have seen a dramatic rise in the fingerprinting of children across the UK.
 
But one wonders if this rise is due in part to a new amendment to the Freedom Bill  requiring parental consent to fingerprint their children, that has been proposed.  As of now, school in the UK do not need the parent's consent in order to fingerprint school children for such activities as borrowing library books, attendance and cashless lunches.
 
Many are pleased about the proposal, which gives parents the right to choose whether or not they wish their children to be enrolled in biometric programs.  And that is perhaps why it has been reported that "school are falling all over themselves" to get the prints taken in time, before the proposed bill is enacted.
 
What do you think? Should children be fingerprinted for the course of their daily school activities, or is this an example of advanced technology being used for the wrong purposes? Leave your comment below.