Iris Biometric Added to Next Generation Identification System The FBI hopes law enforcement agencies will incorporate iris-capture technology into their existing biometric processes, like police department booking stations or jail intakes and releases. The FBI’s biometrics toolkit is growing. The division of the Bureau that manages the national database of fingerprints recently implemented the Next Generation Identification (NGI) Iris Service, which gives the FBI and partner agencies the ability to capture, catalog, and make rapid comparisons of iris images with a high rate of accuracy. The human iris—the part of the eye that controls the size of the pupil and defines one’s eye color—contains a unique pattern of ridges and folds that are specific to individuals. In the new system, which went in service on September 29, a subject’s irises are captured using a near-infrared camera, which takes just seconds. The FBI hopes law enforcement agencies will adopt the technology and incorporate it into their existing biometric processes, like police department booking stations or jail intakes and releases.