National Sex Offender Tracking Companies Enter Joint Agreement

For Immediate Release
July 21, 2008

Contact:
Sean G. Mullin
BI2 Technologies
Office: 508-224-1600 ext. 303
Cell: 617-803-1644

Mike Cormaci
Watch Systems
Office: 985-871-8110
Cell: 985-778-9991

National Sex Offender Tracking Companies Enter Joint Agreement
BI2 Technologies and Watch Systems to offer their respective cutting edge technologies to track sex offenders

(Plymouth, MA) – Biometric Intelligence & Identification Technologies (BI2 Technologies) of Plymouth, Massachusetts and Watch Systems of Covington, Louisiana announced today that they have entered into joint marketing agreement to offer their respective cutting edge technologies, which register and track convicted sex offenders using iris recognition biometric technology and web based notification.

BI2 Technologies’ Sex Offender Registry and Identification System (SORIS™) enrolls and positively identifies convicted sexual predators using iris recognition biometric technology, the quickest and most accurate identification technology available. Iris recognition biometric technology positively determines the identity of an individual by capturing a high-resolution digitally encrypted photograph of an individual’s iris. The technology can tell the difference between twins or even an individual’s right and left eye. The technology is non-intrusive – requiring the person to simply look into the camera.

Watch Systems’ OffenderWatch® provides local law enforcement with the only comprehensive offender management and community notification program in the country. The OffenderWatch suite combines mapping technology to validate offender addresses, enforce residency restrictions and scheduling to ensure offenders report on specified dates. The mapping integration is vital to deliver affective community notification, OffenderWatch powers public websites allowing the public to search and view sex offender data for their neighborhood. The system also gives citizens the ability to register for automatic email notifications anytime a sex offender registers an address within a 1 mile radius of their home. The Internet program allows citizens to search for registered sex offenders by name or address.

Mike Cormaci of Watch Systems said it gives residents an easy way to keep track of registered offenders. “The sex-offender registry has been public information since the mid-90s, since we initiated public access 8 years ago we have enrolled almost 400,000 citizens to receive emails and deliver more than 80 million address searches annually. More importantly is that OffenderWatch saves local law enforcement personnel thousands of hours annually via the management tool kit in the software therefore ensuring that information delivered to the public is timely, accurate and geographically relevant” Cormaci said.

He explained that with OffenderWatch, a citizen can type in their address, and it will display a list of the registered sex offenders residing within a mile radius of that address. Furthermore the citizen can then choose to have the address monitored and receive an email whenever a new offender moves within a mile of the address.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), there are almost three convicted sex offenders living in our communities on probation or parole for every convicted sex offender in jail or prison. In addition, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reports there are more than a half million sex offenders that are “supposed” to be registered in the United States; however at least 100,000 of these offenders are actually “missing” from the system. Convicted Sex Offenders must register with local law enforcement. But many do not and many convicted Sex Offenders move frequently and often fail to report and/or re-register when they move.

Combining the two technologies gives law enforcement officials the ability to quickly register sex offenders through the most unique biometric available – the iris – and track them across jurisdictions while enforcing address restrictions and conducting community notification.

“By providing the positive identification in seconds through SORIS and the registration and back end notification through Offender Watch, local law enforcement will have an integrated, low-cost solution that puts them in complete compliance with the recently passed Adam Walsh legislation,” said BI2 Technologies President Sean Mullin.

The SORIS™ system was developed by BI2 Technologies of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The company specializes in providing iris recognition biometric technology. BI2 Technologies has implemented its iris biometric systems in Sheriffs’ Offices in 30 states over the past 3 years and is the first and only national repository iris biometric data for law enforcement to enroll and positively identify convicted sex offenders. The systems have been endorsed by the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) and more than 2,100 of the nation’s Sheriffs have requested the technology.

Watch Systems is considered the authority on sex offender registration, verification and community notification programs. The company’s software program and supporting services are used in close to 600 local law enforcement offices in the country spanning over 30 states and counting. No other sex offender software solution in the country provides such a comprehensive service to Sheriffs and State Repositories that includes registration, verification, website integration, Geographic Risk Assessments, Email Notifications, postal card notifications, and support for mapping with up to date streets and US postal addresses.