BiometricsAussie forensic biologist pushing for usage of ear biometrics

A forensic biologist is leading a push for Australian police to ID crooks by their ears. Sydney-based Elias Messaike says ear biometrics, which involves analyzing photographs of ears, is an ideal way to identify people. “It’s practical, it’s fast, it’s cost effective and it’s an alternative method so you don’t have to give up cracking a case or identifying a victim,” he told ABC News Online.

Messaike, who has been specializing in ears for nearly five years, says no two ears are the same — not even your left and right. “Everyone has a unique set of ears - it’s similar to your fingerprints and DNA,” he said. “Just by looking at your ears, you think they’re both the same, but looking at the characteristics and the measurements, you’d be surprised that there are differences like a freckle, where an ear piercing is and the measurements are different. Ears never tend to change dramatically, whereas people’s faces can change.”

Ear biometrics is not a new technology; before DNA and fingerprints, ears were used for identification, but it was neglected when fingerprint technology took off.

Ear biometric technology recently pioneered in Belgium, however, has been used successfully to identify victims of disasters.

An Australian Federal Police spokesperson told ABC News Online they do not use ear biometrics, and have no plans to.

Messaike, who recently completed the Winston Churchill Fellowship allowing him to work for Interpol in France, thinks they are missing out on a “highly accurate” technology. “If there’s footage of a bank robbery taking place and you only have footage of it and the person’s just covered his face, rather than saying ‘this case is blown out, we don’t have anything,’ there’s a chance you can get the ear and get identification based on the ear,” he said. “When a criminal’s wearing gloves, you won’t be able to brush up any fingerprints on the crime scene and no DNA’s been left, why not use ear identification?”

Messaike also thinks ear biometrics is a better way to identify victims of mass disasters. “For closure for families of victims, DNA and fingerprinting takes a while,” he said. “With biometrics, you don’t need anything more than a photograph, and people usually do have photos of the ears in profile in a nice clear image. It’s also less intrusive so you don’t have to take blood from a person or fingerprints — some people find that a bit intrusive.”

Messaike says he is not proposing biometrics replace the use of fingerprints and DNA, but he says ear biometrics would complement them nicely.
“It’s just another alternative — if you don’t have DNA or fingerprints, it’s another way of looking at something,” he said.

Messaike says he plans to get a small research team together so they can tidy up a few loose ends in the technology, and then offer it to Australian law enforcement agencies.