FBI asks local cops for tattoo databases

[Baitball Blogger]

The FBI wants your tattoos — more specifically, the meanings behind their inky black lines and colorful shapes — and it's asking local law-enforcement agencies for help.

The FBI's Biometric Center of Excellence, which already collects tattoos and other identity markers in its massive database, sent a request July 13 to police agencies, including those in Central Florida, for information "related to any current databases containing tattoo/symbol images, their possible meanings, gang affiliations, terrorist groups or other criminal organizations."

Gang members and terrorist groups often share symbols among their followers as a way to easily identify one another and gauge member loyalty. Members of the Latin Kings, for example, illustrate their bodies with a crown, while members of the MS-13 gang usually tattoo "MS" on their skin. But other symbols are more cryptic.

FBI agents say combining their database with information gathered from tattoo databases at more than 18,000 law-enforcement agencies could improve everyone's biometric-based crime-fighting and anti-terrorism efforts.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/os-fbi-tattoo-database-20120731,0,7997517.story

[htuttle]

1. You know what's surprising?

That they haven't been doing this for the last 40 years.

I mean, on the CSI-type shows, they just upload an image of something like a tattoo and get a 'match' a few hours later. I guess they can't really do that yet...

[Tx4obama]

2. Officials Believe Wisconsin Shooter Was 40-Year-Old White Supremacist Or Skinhead

ABC reports that the tattoos on the body of the Wisconsin shooter “are the work of a ‘white supremacist’ or ‘skinhead’.” CBS says he was “a heavy-set, 40-year-old Caucasian male who lived in the area.

http://www.alan.com/2012/08/05/officials-believe-wisconsin-shooter-was-40-year-old-white-supremacist-or-skinhead/