Press Release
For Immediate Release:
December 9, 2005

Contacts:
Sheriff Robert Garvey
413-584-5911

Kevin O’Reilly, BI² Technologies
508-224-1600 ext. 318

Triad Board Endorses New Senior Safety Initiative
New Technology to Fill Critical Gap in Locating Missing Adults

(Plymouth, MA) – Biometric Identification & Intelligence (BI²) Technologies announced today that the Company has received the endorsement of the National Association of Triads Board of Directors for a new system dedicated to identifying and locating missing adults through the use of Iris Recognition Biometric Technology.

The endorsement of the program, known as Senior SafetyNet, was made at the National Triad Training Symposium on December 7, 2005, in Tunica, Mississippi.

Senior Safety Net is a secure nationwide network and registry that enables law enforcement and social service agencies to locate and positively identify missing adults with iris biometric recognition technology. Through this network, Senior SafetyNet will compare the unique features contained in the iris against a database of individuals who voluntarily enroll throughout the country to determine identity. Participation is entirely voluntary, just as it is now with bracelet and photo ID card programs.

The enabling iris recognition biometric technology is provided by Iridian Technologies, Inc. of Moorestown, New Jersey. Iridian’s ProofPositive^TM certified hardware and software positively determines the identity of an individual by capturing and digitally encoding an image of the child’s iris. In addition to high accuracy that can distinguish between twins or even an individual’s right and left eye, Iridian’s technology is highly scalable to millions of unique records. The system will employ Panasonic Security Systems’ recently introduced BM-ET330 Iris Readers, which feature advanced user guidance technology along with the latest developments in iris recognition technology to deliver fast and accurate system enrollment and authentication. The technology is non-intrusive. An image of the iris is captured by simply looking into the camera.

Sheriff Garvey has used iris biometric recognition technology to track inmates in his correctional facility for a number of years and originally came up with the idea of expanding the use of the technology to help identify and locate missing children. The system known as the Children’s Identification and Location Database (CHILD) Project was officially launched in June 2004, when it was endorsed by the National Sheriffs’ Association. Since that time over 1,200 sheriffs across the nation have agreed to participate in the CHILD Project and is being implemented in over one dozen states. With the success of the CHILD Project, Sheriff Garvey, who serves as Chairman of the National Association of Triads, saw there was an opportunity to expand the services to senior citizens.

According the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) as of November 1, 2004 there were 103,774 active missing adult cases on file. Many of the missing adult cases are increasingly related to those suffering with Alzheimer ’s disease. The National Institute’s of Health National Institute on Aging estimated in a 1999 report that up to 4 million people suffer with Alzheimer’s Disease, and the prevalence (the number of people with the disease at any one time) doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. It is also estimated that approximately 360,000 new cases will occur each year, though this number will increase as the population ages.

Since the turn of the century, life expectancies have increased dramatically. More than 34 million people--13 percent of the total population of the United States--are now aged 65 and older. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, this percentage will accelerate rapidly beginning in 2011, when the first baby boomers reach age 65, and will reach 18 percent of the total population by the year 2025.

Approximately 4 million Americans are 85 or older, and in most industrialized countries, this age group is one of the fastest growing segments of the population. The Bureau of the Census estimates that this group will number nearly 8.5 million by the year 2030; some experts who study population trends suggest that the number could be even greater. As more and more people live longer, those impacted by diseases of aging, including AD, will continue to grow. Some studies show that nearly half of all people age 85 and older have some form of dementia.

“I am proud to stand with my colleagues in the Triad community to endorse this important project,” said Sheriff Garvey. “It is my hope that over the coming years every sheriff in the nation will have one of these systems at their disposal to help identify, locate and reunite missing individuals with their families.”

Triad is a partnership of three organizations - law enforcement, senior citizens, and community groups. The purpose of Triad is to promote senior safety and to reduce the unwarranted fear of crime that seniors often experience. The National Association of Triads assists groups in organizing Triad programs at the grass-roots level, provides ideas and programs to implement in the community, and training materials for law enforcement, senior volunteers, and community groups.

Senior SafetyNet’s database will be hosted by The Nation’s Missing Children Organization and National Center for Missing Adults (NMCO/NCMA), a nonprofit agency providing nationwide assistance to law enforcement and families of missing persons. The agency, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, was founded in 1994 and provides a variety of services including advocacy, search assistance, national distribution of information related to missing persons.

Kym Pasqualini, President and CEO of NMCO/NMCA said, “This unique and innovative program will fill an important gap in our nation’s ability to quickly, and positively identify missing children and adults.”

“According to U.S. Department of Justice studies, there are currently over 47,000 active missing adult cases,” said Sean Mullin, President of BI² Technologies. “We are honored to receive the endorsement of the Triad Board of Directors and look forward to working with them as the system is implemented throughout the nation.”

BI² Technologies develops, sells, designs, implements, integrates and supports biometric technologies. The Company is located in Plymouth, Massachusetts. BI² Technologies’ offers iris recognition biometric technologies and services that are commercially viable, available, installed, and successfully used by numerous Sheriffs’ Offices and other law enforcement and educational agencies across the nation.

More information is available at www.bi2technologies.com or www.theyaremissed.org.

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