HAMPTON -- Like fingerprints, the iris of your eye is unique.
The Hampton Sheriff's Department will be the first in the state to use Iris Biometrics technology with inmates and sex offenders.
Sheriff B. J. Roberts says it will help ensure that the right person's being held and the right person's being released.
Authorities will use a digital camera to photograph a person's eye. That image will be stored in a secure, nationwise network and registry.
Officials say it takes no longer than five seconds to get a positive ID and track someone's criminal past.
"Most sex offenders, when they're in violations, they're not going to tell you. They're hoping what they did in California will not make it all the way back to Virginia," says Sheriff roberts.
Iris Biometrics can also be used in cases involving missing children and the elderly suffering from Alzheimer's or other memory illnesses.
Roberts notes, "Just if anything happens we'll be able to idenfity who they are and return them back home safely."
Hampton received a grant from the National Sheriffs Association to get the technology.
