Catching terrorists by their fingertoips.

CATCHING TERRORISTS AND CRIMINALS
By Their Fingertips, Literally

A man was arrested in Florida for loitering. Police fingerprinted him and electronically submitted his prints to the FBI’s fingerprint database. Within five minutes, Florida police were notified that their loitering suspect was wanted in California on murder charges. California officials were also notified.
Our Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System responds quickly to requests like this 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to help our local, state, and federal partners—and our own investigators—solve and prevent crime and apprehend criminals and terrorists.
For more of the story go to the link here or click on the FBI link at the right.
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/oct08/iafis_101008.html

It is somewhat reassuring that this technology is being used for the greater good, although we all know that it can be exploited for the purposes of harming others.
I have no problem whatsoever with security measures. If I need to be at the airport a little earlier before a flight…so be it…If I am on the CCTV cameras anywhere, I feel safer. Banks have security cameras, most department stores have them, so why are there so many people complaining and griping about them being placed in strategic positions around the CBD. Maybe if there were more then I might be inclined to go for a late evening stroll around the city with my grandchildren. But for now, I tend to avoid these places as I simply do not feel safe.
In a suburb close to where I live – the shop traders want these surveillance cameras positioned around the shopping centre, but as usual there are those who say it is an invasion of privacy. EXCUSE ME….. as far as I am concerned, if you are not doing anything wrong then there is nothing to worry about. Same goes for any extra measures the Government must go through in order to detect welfare fraud, or tax evasion etc.

There is nothing much that is not already known about every citizen as it is….the old saying…”Big Brother is alive and well” and I for one do not care what is known about me as long as it is used for the purposes of intention.
I will however concede that there is potential for unscrupulous officials to ‘frame’ a person with the right knowledge, but hey, that can happen anyway….think of all the cases of ‘planted evidence’.

And I certainly have no problem with any measure that will eventually put criminals and terrorists behind bars and/or on death row.

Which reminds me…. Time is running very short for the Bali Bombers. Oh what a day of celebrations that will be. To see the last of their smug smiling faces….which only serves to renew my anger at them and those of their ilk, but then again I have the comfort of knowing that they will be meeting their maker for a brief moment then to burn in the fires of hell.