News
22/
"PROJETS
POUR IMPLANTER LES MEMBRES DE L'ELITE MEXICAINE ET LEURS PROCHES
"
"VeriChip
EN TANDEM AVEC D'AUTRES TECHNOLOGIES BIOMETRIQUES"
__________________________________________________________
SOURCE
http://news.independent.co.uk/
Mexican
crime-fighters get microchips to foil kidnaps
By Tim Gaynor
in Mexico 17 July 2004
Extraits
« Crime
fighters have had microchips inserted under their skin so
they can be traced if they fall prey to Mexico's growing band
of kidnappers. The technology also gives them access to a
new crime database. Rafael Macedo, the Attorney General, said
the technology, which has been used to help owners locate
and identify
stray family pets, will give them exclusive and secure access
to a national, computerised database for crime investigators
that went live on Monday. Mexican federal authorities are
fighting widespread police corruption that regularly compromises
high-level criminal investigations. The chips,
which are made
by the Florida-based VeriChip Corporation, act as mini transponders,
opening access to secure areas and files within prosecutors'
offices in Mexico City. The decision to use the technology
comes at a time of growing concern over crime in Mex- ico,
where 2,000 people were snatched and held
to ransom last
year, placing the country second only to Colombia in the global
kidnapping league. Late last month, thousands of residents
marched in silence through Mexico City to demand the government
take action. Mr Macedo told a news conference that the miniature
device, which is about the size of a
grain of rice,
"hurt slightly" when it was inserted beneath the skin of his
upper arm. He added: "It's solely for access, for safety and
so I can be located at any moment wherever I am.»
