Criminals in the Isle of Man should think twice before they try and conceal their identity from the Manx police force.

People taken into custody now have their fingerprints taken electronically, and their details are checked against the national database to ensure they are who they say they are.

It also allows officers to see if the suspect is wanted for other offences.

Detective Sergeant Grahame Bell says with the old-style ink-and-roller method of fingerprinting, it used to take four to five days to check such information.

He is confident this new equipment will prove to be a useful tool in tackling time-wasting: