The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States has taken another step towards building the biggest biometric database outside of the FBIs by inking a new $24 million contract. NEC Corporation of America a Texas-based IT firm that provides biometric services to commercial entities, law enforcement groups, and governments around the globe announced on Monday that its been awarded a multi-year contract by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department to provide the agency with specialized, state-of-the-art policing services, including high-tech facial recognition software.

Previously published paperwork out of the LA County Board of Supervisors reveals that the Sheriffs Department requested approval last year for a $24.4 million contract with NEC that would provide the agency the largest sheriff's department in the US with biometric identification services for six years. The board authorized that request in December, setting the stage for NEC to soon provide area law enforcement with a new toolkit with regards to investigating criminal activity and tracking down suspects within a jurisdiction that includes roughly 2.6 million residents.

According to a statement put up by NEC Corp. this week, the deal will allow the LA Sheriffs Department to access fingerprint, palm-print, face, voice, iris and DNA matching capabilities offered through the companys Integra ID 5 Multimodal Biometrics Identification Solution (MBIS), as well as the NeoFace program touted by NEC being themost accurate facial matching product available in the world.

NECs experience in offering such solutions, their leading fingerprint and facial recognition technology and their ability to meet our business continuity and disaster recovery requirements, all under a flat monthly fee, were among key advantages of the NEC offering, Lt. Josh Thai of the LASD said in a statement explaining the agencys decision to offer the contract.