The Jamaican Government is taking steps to prevent passport application fraud by adding a facial recognition system to its current passport issuance and control system (JPICS).JPICS was implemented by Canadian Bank Note Company in 2001 to provide electronic functionality and machine readable passports. The supplier has now been awarded a contract valued at US$1.38 million to procure a Facial Recognition System upgrade to JPICS.The Jamaican government said it has more than two million machine readable photographs in its database, and that the Facial Recognition System will aim to reduce, or eliminate, problems relating to multiple identities in the application process.Head of the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency, PICA, Jennifer McDonald, said at a press briefing that the new FRS will allow PICA to have a greater level of identity management. All photographs received from applicants will be checked against this database to possible matches.The contract provides for the provision of database servers and associated software, as well as a two year maintenance and support services agreement.Since JPICS was introduced in 2001, more than 790 cases of identity theft have been detected.Earlier this month, Jamaican officials revealed that the country will install a National Identification System that uses biometrics by 2020. Permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Onika Miller, confirmed in parliament that a framework for the system will be ready this year.”We have sketched out a roadmap to 2020, indicating what are the different components, so we are actually further ahead now, with clear specifics,” Miller said.Allison McLean, a director in the Office of the Prime Minister, said there was a plan to consolidate existing databases such as the taxpayer registration number (TRN) and other current methods of identification. Miller added that biometrics would definitely play a part, although the details were as yet undecided.

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