Dale Sparks, Associated Press A three dimensional computer scan is made of the face of volunteer Meghan Hinebaugh to demonstrate a high tech tool that West Virginia researchers hope will aid in more quickly identifying children who may have been abducted. Click photo for larger image.

West Virginia researchers are using a bit of technical wizardry to produce images that may help find missing children more quickly.

A pilot biometrics program called AmberView was unveiled this week by the West Virginia High Technology Consortium (WVHTC) Foundation in Fairmont, West Virginia.

Researchers scanned the faces of volunteer students from three counties to produce a database of three-dimensional images designed to be distributed through state and national Amber Alert programs, should one of the students turn up missing in a suspected child abduction.

The system can "mass broadcast" a digital, 3-D facial image of a missing child over the Internet to law enforcement officials, media organizations, the private sector and other sources.

"AmberView is a program that applies an advanced technology like biometrics to the very real and tragic problem of child abduction," said WVHTC Foundation President and CEO James L. Estep. "We are confident this program can be applied statewide, nationally and even globally because we all know that the crime of child abduction knows no borders."

AmberView Program Manager Robert Chico said the 3-D format allows the image to be enlarged and viewed from various angles, making positive identification easier.

Researchers hope AmberView will be far more useful than fingerprinting, which has been used to identify missing children after they are recovered. The 3-D biometric facial image may be rotated on a computer to view a variety of facial angles. This provides much more information than a simple description, photo or fax of a photo and, unlike fingerprinting programs, is aimed more at the safe return of the child than identifying the child after recovery, officials said.

All images have been stored on a secure server located at the WVHTC Foundation and maintained in a secure database.

Upon receiving an authorized Amber Alert, that child's high resolution, 3-D image may be distributed via a web-based broadcast system to law enforcement, media outlets and private sector sources in a 200-mile radius of the child's hometown or area of abduction, Chico said.