A new mobile fingerprinting device that allows police to verify the identity of suspects in the street is already proving its worth in Bradford.

Within an hour of the Lantern device being deployed, officers in Bradford North Road Policing Unit arrested a 16-year-old Manningham boy who had outstanding arrest warrants dating back to 2005.

He had also been one of the division's top ten most wanted people.

The boy had given false details and had also altered his appearance to disguise himself.

But by using Lantern officers were quickly able to establish his true identity and make the arrest.

Ten Lantern devices are being deployed across West Yorkshire to enable officers to take a suspect's fingerprints in the field instead of having to bring them to the station.

Assistant Chief Constable Jawaid Akhtar said: "The Lantern device allows officers to do on the streets what was only previously possible in a police station.

"In the past it could have taken up to three hours to take a suspect back to a police station to check that they are who they say they are. A Lantern search should taken no longer than five minutes' maximum and in most cases less than a minute or two.

"This therefore enables officers to stay out of the office, responding to incidents, providing a visible presence and being there for the public, out on the streets where it matters."

Inspector Russell Clark, head of the collision investigation unit based at Wakefield, said: "This device means we are in a position to catch people who really need catching."

The lightweight, hand-held device works by electronically scanning the subject's index fingers. The scans are sent using encrypted wireless transmissions to the central fingerprint database. A search against the national fingerprint collection of 6.5 million prints is then performed.

Any possible matches are identified and returned to the officer. Once identity has been verified, the search information is deleted as legislation states that the fingerprint record can only be kept until the purpose of identification has been served.

West Yorkshire Police will be piloting Lantern over the next 12 months along with Bedfordshire, West Midlands, Lancashire, Wales, Hertfordshire, Essex, Northampton-shire, the Met and British Transport Police.

e-mail: sunita.bhatti@bradford.newsquest.co.uk