Together RFID and Video Technology Fight Crime

According to this recent article, the LosAngeles Board of Supervisors are weighing the differences between RFID wrist bands for inmates and installing video-cameras throughout the country jails...or perhaps joining forces.

The proposed nine-month, $1.6 million pilot program would make use of wristbands with radio-frequency identification technology, or RFID, that would set off an alarm if inmates ventured into off-limits areas, or if violent, so-called "keep-aways" got too close to other inmates.

The cost differentiation is HUGE, a measly $1.6 million for the RFID wrist bands versus $20 million for the installation of countless video cameras makes the decision an easy one. However, the possibility of providing both technologies is a desirable option, but a costly one.

Klugman (chief of the sheriff's Correctional Services Division) said there is a place for both RFID and cameras.

"I don't look at one or the other as being the panacea," he said. "We're hoping that (RFID) will fill in some of those gaps that are left by camera technology."
Klugman added that although video cameras are important for showing what happened after the fact, RFID wristbands linked to an alarm system can alert deputies to various problems at the time they happen.

How about attaching a shock-mechanism to the RFID wrist bands so that when an inmate is causing trouble they get an electric shock? Now I wonder how much electric current would have to be used.....