UK Police Engage Print Industry to Stop Fake IDs

U.K. police are trying to get wider participation from printer manufacturers and makers of specialist equipment in a voluntary program designed to cut off criminals from the tools they need to make fraudulent passports and ID cards.
The program asks distributors and resellers to profile their customers and tell police if they suspect equipment such as thermal card printers are being ordered under suspicious conditions, said Nick Downing, detective chief inspector with the Economic and Specialist Crime Unit of the Metropolitan police.

There are no regulations around owning special printing equipment, but it is illegal to possess some items with the intent to produce false identity documents. The tools of the trade include embossing devices, hot-foil stamping machines, special types of paper and hologram machinery. Thermal card printers, which can be used to make ID cards, retail for as little as £700 (US$1,120), Downing said.

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ID Card Printers from Al-cor Identification Solutions

ID Card Printers | Photo ID Printing Solutions

Create professional photo ID cards with a digital card printer. Al-Cor Identification Solutions offers monochrome, color, single and duel-sided photo ID Card printers. Digital photo identification cards are crisp, easy to read, hard to duplicate and look very professional. ID card printers print on credit card-size PVC cards that can later be placed in a badge holder, put on a lanyard, placed in a wallet or be clipped to a lapel. Al-Cor Identification Solutions carries id card printer brands such as  Fargo, Zebra, Magicard, Datacard, Evolis, EDIsecure Polaroid and more.

ID card printers for ID card printing. Print single sided, double sided, full color, single color (monochrome), photo, bar code, or magnetic stripe plastic Identification cards.

EDIsecure ID Printers	Evolis ID Printers	Fargo ID Card Printers
Zebra ID Card Printers	Polaroid ID Printers	Nisca ID Card Printers
Magicard ID Printers	Datacard ID Printers	Laminating ID Printers

Evolis Card Printer

Tattoo2 id card printer from Evolis is the ideal solution to print plastic cards on a small scale. In a few seconds, Tattoo personalizes in monochrome or color all your cards with a 300 dpi standard resolution. Tattoo card printer fully addresses the specific needs of small organizations that print badges in low volume or just once in a while: sports clubs, retail outlets, schools, libraries or local authorities

Pradonet Extends Battery Life and add Internal GPS to the ST4EX Mobile Identification Handheld

Pradonet Technologies USA , a leader in providing mobile id verification solutions , today announced the release of two new extended life batteries and internal GPS for the popular ST4EX mobile biometric identification handheld terminal. The ST4EX Mobile ID Handheld Terminal now has two options of battery power, one being a upgrade to two 1550mAH batteries and two being one single 3100mAH battery. In addition the unit will now include a internal GPS module.
Both new rechargeable battery options allow the ST4EX handheld biometric terminal to operate continuously for up to 12 hours. In addition, the extended batteries are as before hot swappable in the field without losing any valuable data. The internal GPS added to the ST4EX allows users to pinpoint locations of all transactions taking place on the handheld.
“We have managed to add more field usage to the already popular small and lightweight St4EX handheld platform. The additional battery life allows for more modules to be added without subtracting power usage, such as a digital camera or barcode scanner. The addition of the GPS module allows the data being captured to be pinpointed to a precise location ” says Chief Executive Officer Chuck Weiglin
About Pradonet

Pradonet develops, manufactures and markets numerous Mobile and Handheld ID software, hardware, biometric devices. Our portable Mobile ID Hardware allows for Government Agencies, Systems Integrators and Access Control Companies to easily connect to existing ID systems for accurate ID verification and authentication. For more information visit www.pradonetusa.com

Zebra ZXP Series 8 ID Card Printer

Zebra ZXP Series 8 ID Card Printer, a revolutionary retransfer printer that offers a host of options for smart card encoding and networking making it ideal for such applications as high security ID cards, driver’s licenses, gift cards and financial cards. The Zebra ZXP Series 8 produces photo-quality cards at nearly twice the speed of other retransfer printers currently on the market Unlike its counterparts, the ZXP Series 8 printer delivers photo quality, over-the-edge, high speed printing on many different types of cards, including those with uneven surfaces such as smart cards, polycarbonate cards for security applications, and biopolymer cards. The printer is available in single- and dual-sided printing configurations with a full portfolio of magnetic encoding, smart card encoding, single- and dual-sided lamination, and connectivity options.

Zebra’s ZXP Series 8 id card printer achieves the fastest print speed while maintaining top image quality, making it the best-in-class retransfer printer available on the market.
Zebra achieves print speeds that far exceed any retransfer printer, and that are comparable to many of the fastest direct-to-card printers on the market today.Zebra’s image-processing technology compensates for image errors normally caused by high printing speeds—enabling photo-quality images and print resolution even at increased print speeds.Zebra’s patent-pending simultaneous dual-sided  image transfer process applies film to both sides of the card in a single pass, drastically reducing the print time. The result is photo-like image quality and best-in-class throughput for mainstream printing, encoding and laminating—so you enjoy increased operational efficiency.Advantages of Zebra’s innovative retransfer card printer

Fargo ID Card Printers

Fargo ID Card Printers

Creating Photo ID Cards

ID Card Printers – Mini Guide On Plastic Identification Cards

Creating photo ID cards isn’t complicated. In fact, it only takes minutes to create a template and seconds to print a card. Modern day ID card printers create photo IDs that look better and last longer than ever before. This certainly beats the old days of printing out a card and laminating it.

What are ID cards printed on? Photo ID card printers print on plastic PVC cards, typically CR-80 (credit card size). These cards are typically white, but don’t have to be. Card thicknesses are typically available in 30 mil and 10 mil. Thirty-mil cards are the thickness of a credit card. A mil is one thousandth of an inch. You can find our blank PVC cards here.
What kind of cartridges / ribbons do ID card printers use? Most ID card printers use a printing process called dye sublimation printing in which a thermal print head burns the image onto the card. This usually consists of a ribbon with several colored panels that are combined to create a full-color image. The ribbons consist of YMCK (Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Black) panels. The YMCKO ribbons contain an overlay panel, which prevents scratches and increases the life of the card. Monochrome ribbons are available for single-color printing. Some printers are only capable of monochrome printing. You can find our ribbons here.
Is software required? ID card software is necessary to create a template for printing. This could involve text, logos and photographs. There are many different types of ID software available and vary depending on the volume of cards being printed, if any type of encoding / bar code is required and if database management is needed for keeping track of and re-printing cards. Many ID card printers will now include a basic software package to get you up and going. You can find our ID card software here.
Can I encode magnetic stripes, smart cards and proximity cards? This all depends on the printer you are using and the software you are using. Many printers come with the ability to encode mag stripes, smart cards and proximity cards. This capability often has to be installed in the factory, so be sure to check prior to making a purchase.
Can all printers create double-sided printing? We sell single sided printers and double-sided printers. Single sided printers are primarily designed to only print one side of a card, where double-sided printers print both sides of a card in one pass. Double-sided printing can be done on a single-sided printer, but requires the card to be re-inserted the other way to print the other side. This is slower than a double-sided printer and there is a chance of the card being scratched as it is run through twice.
What are the major ID printer brands? The most common brands available today are Fargo, Eltron, Magicard, Evolis and Polaroid.
Regardless of the ID card route you plan to go with, you should stop by our site and view our entire selection of ID card printers, supplies and accessories here!