Advanced biometric identification, within reach of every county in California.
The California Regional Identification Group, or Cal-RIDG, is a partnership of California Identification System (Cal-ID) agencies and other law enforcement agencies that share one Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), the technology that matches fingerprints and identifies an unknown subject. Every search covers the entire network: more identifications for your county, at a cost no county carries alone.
The model
One shared system. Your data, your county’s.
An ABIS of its own typically costs a county $1–3M+ to start up, a price out of reach for most counties. Cal-RIDG removes that barrier the way regional partnerships always have: everyone puts in, and everyone draws out. You pay a share of a single system's cost instead of the full standalone price.
The benefits compound. Your county adds its own arrest prints and gains every other member’s in return. Counties own their data; the system is shared. Cal-RIDG is a partnership built by counties, for counties, and it welcomes every California county and law enforcement agency ready to join the pool.
What you get
Three ways in. Take one, take a combination, or take them all.
Shared ABIS
One shared system matches fingerprints and other biometrics against every member county’s records, making it far more likely to identify an unknown subject than any single county’s files alone.
Learn moreLatent Print Examination
Experienced examiners take on your crime-scene print casework, without the extended waits that agencies without a latent unit have come to expect.
Learn moreMobile ID
A rugged handheld device identifies a subject in the field, and the shared system returns a hit or no-hit in as little as a few seconds.
Learn more
Funding
The funding mechanism already exists. Your County Board of Supervisors just has to say yes.
California Vehicle Code §9250.19 established a dedicated funding source for county Cal-ID programs: up to $2 per vehicle registration and $6 per commercial vehicle registration, collected alongside regular Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) fees and returned to the county. This is not a grant to compete for; it is standing law, activated by a single board resolution. Eleven California counties already fund at the full $2 / $6.
See where every county standsThe system is evergreen: always advancing, and shaped by the counties in it.
The shared ABIS is never a finished product; it continues to evolve to meet partners' needs. Whether your current contract ends next year or in five years, the right time to start the conversation is now.
Contact Cal-RIDG