The Clermont County Sheriff’s Department is testing what could be the first step in a significant streamlining of the criminal justice system.
The Mobilisa m2500 Sentry scanner is a handheld unit that gives law enforcement officials the ability to instantly check on the background of any individuals they choose, determining quickly if they have outstanding warrants or maybe a history of violence or are sexual offenders.
“Basically, this is a hand-held scanner,” said Deputy Duyane Ernst. “We have a couple of ways to use it. We can swipe the license, scan the barcode or search manually by name or social security number. If we scan the driver’s license, it basically tells us the license number and tells us if you have any warrants. It can also tell us if the license is expired or not.”
Clermont County is giving the units a trial run and are the only law enforcement agency in the country to have access to the devices. Said Sheriff Tim Rodenberg, that privilege comes from knowing the president of the company that created the devices, John Paxton Sr.