The awards were announced at the 118th International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference and exhibition in Chicago. Fulcrum Biometrics won the coveted awards for the company's Fbf mobileone, a biometric fingerprint accessory that snaps onto IOS devices such as the Ipod Touch and Iphone.

The Cygnus Law Enforcement Group’s Innovation Awards recognise new products and services introduced to the law enforcement market during the previous year. The 2011 award winners were judged by an independent panel of twelve veteran law enforcement professionals. Judges evaluated products in 13 different categories for innovation, productivity, quality contribution, ease of use and maintainability. Fbf mobileone received the Innovation Award in the Forensics category. Other categories included: Body Armor & Safety, Communications, Computers, Corrections & Security, Firearms & Weapons, Firearms & Weapons Accessories, Software, Surveillance, Tactical, Traffic Enforcement, Training, Uniforms & Apparel, and Vehicles & Vehicle Accessories.

The Paramount Award, which also was awarded to Fbf mobileone, is a “best in competition” award given each year to the single most innovative product across the 13 categories, with the additional criteria of cost-effectiveness, originality and uniqueness in a product that enhances law enforcement as a whole.

“The law enforcement community is very interested in the new products that rise to the top every year,” said Patrick Bernardo, brand director for Cygnus Law Enforcement Group. “They’re always looking for the equipment that will make law enforcers’ duties easier, and their time on the streets better managed and safer.”

Fbf mobileone is a sleek-fitting sleeve that easily snaps onto an Iphone or Ipod touch while still allowing the device to fit comfortably in a pocket.

Fbf mobileone improves officer safety and productivity in the field by enabling quick and efficient collection of high quality (FBI PIV-compliant) fingerprints of suspects, detainees or even deceased individuals for the express purpose of rapid identification. Field collection of biometric data reduces the costs and potential risks associated with bringing suspects into departments for processing.

Fbf mobileone has a companion Fbf IOS library, which makes it easy for application developers and integrators to create custom multibiometric (fingerprint and face)-enabled law enforcement apps running on IOS devices. Multi-biometric identification, the use of multiple biometric types in an identification process, provides a higher degree of identification and authentication accuracy than using any one single modality.

“We are honoured to receive these two significant awards from the law enforcement community,” said Ken Nosker, president of Fulcrum Biometrics. “Fulcrum has been working in the biometrics space for nearly 10 years. This has given us a high degree of visibility into emerging trends in the industry. Several years ago we identified a coming shift in law enforcement towards mobile computing devices, namely smartphones and tablet computers. By creating a portable fingerprint sensor that could be combined with the power and flexibility afforded by IOS devices, we saw a winning combination for easy, rapid biometric identification in the field. We are pleased that Fbf mobileone has been embraced so enthusiastically by the law enforcement community.”

Portable biometric identification systems are in use worldwide, however these systems usually involve either a laptop PC and tethered fingerprint scanner or other expensive, limited-purpose mobile devices that can be cost-prohibitive and cumbersome to deploy across an entire force. Fbf mobileone is ideal for law enforcement, because it is a low-cost, multi-purpose, mobile solution that works with widely used IOS based mobile devices and can be customised for individual law enforcement needs.