EDDINGTON (AP) – The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department has a new tool when it needs help finding missing or abducted children.

The department is the first in the state to buy a device that take pictures of children’s irises – the colored part of the eye that is unique to each person – and store them in a national database.

The department so far has scanned the irises of about 500 children and is now reaching out to schools as part of the department’s Children’s Identification and Location Database project, said Chief Deputy Troy Morton.

An iris scan is more reliable than fingerprints, Morton said, because it captures more than 250 characteristics compared to 70 to 75 for fingerprints.

The department bought the device using a $25,000 grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation.

It takes about 15 second for the digital camera to take a picture of a child’s eye. After the information is entered into a computer, it is sent by Internet to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, where it stays until the child turns 18. Law enforcement agencies do not have access to the information once it is sent to the registry.

“It’s not like we’re keeping information on file. That’s a misconception,” Morton said. “It’s not Big Brother watching out for people. It’s merely a way to identify a child.”

The sheriff’s department has been reaching out at community events and is now making presentations to schools. Morton was scheduled to make a presentation Monday at the School Administrative District 63 meeting.

SAD 63 Superintendent Louise Regan said the program is designed to help parents.

“Basically, what we’re going to try to do is help families in the case of an emergency to be able to identify their children,” she said.

“We think it’s a great program.”

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