THE LONG-AWAITED Finger Prints Amendment Bill was on Tuesday passed without opposition in the House of Representatives.
The legislation, which was the subject of intense scrutiny throughout the life of a joint select committee, which met for more than a year, was warmly greeted by members on both sides of the aisle.
The bill provides the police with increased powers to finger-print and photograph suspects in specific criminal matters without a court order.
The legislation is an attempt to standardise Jamaican law in keeping with the established practices in most Common-wealth jurisdictions.
However, Clive Mullings, Opposition deputy spokesman on national security, warned the House that the legislation might be promising more than it can deliver.
Mr. Mullings argued that, in an effort to adequately update the investigative capabilities of the police, the government needs to move toward a composite system of identifying suspects.
CREATING SKETCHES
Such a system would include either an artist to create sketches from precise descriptions or a computer system.
"If not, what you'll find, is that you get a description of a person ... dark skin, broad nose or thin nose, wide lips, and that (identifies) half or three quarters of the people in this country," Mr. Mullings said.
He also suggested that the Government seek to implement forensic lighting equipment to search for fingerprints at crime scenes.
Noting that the police
currently dust for fingerprints, he said: "This, quite frankly is antiquated."
