Minnesota Counties Secure New Criminal Charging System With BIO-key(R) Fingerprint...

Minnesota Counties Secure New Criminal Charging System With BIO-key(R)
Fingerprint Biometrics

Paperless eCharging Saves Time and Increases Efficiency

WALL, N.J., May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BIO-key International, Inc. (OTC
Bulletin Board: BKYI), a leader in finger-based biometric identification and
wireless public safety solutions, today announced that Minnesota counties are
deploying BIO-key's WEB-key(R) biometric identification software as part of a
new paperless criminal charging, or eCharging system.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050509/BIOKEYLOGO)

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which funded the new system,
believes Minnesota is the first state to move to an entirely paperless
criminal charging process. eCharging allows a criminal complaint to be
processed in as little as 30 minutes, whereas the previous process could take
up to a full day, especially if officers had to travel a long distance.

The new eCharging system will start in select St. Louis County jurisdictions,
and then expand across the county into other parts of the state this summer.
It is being deployed in branches of the county sheriff's office, as well as
the police departments of Chisholm, Duluth, Hibbing, Floodwood, Hermantown and
Proctor.

Virginia, Minnesota Police Chief Dana Waldron has been using eCharging for
about two months and says he wouldn't dream of going back to paper. "It takes
a little while to get used to it; once you do, it works beautifully," says
Waldron. Leaders say the electronic filing system significantly reduces the
time it takes for a criminal complaint to move through the justice system.
What used to take days could now take only minutes. "I've signed two of these
today already. It probably took me a total of less than five minutes to do
that," observed James Florey, St. Louis County chief judge.

The eCharging solution was developed by Minnesota-based Intertech, which
incorporated BIO-key's WEB-key into the document signing process to positively
identify the user based on fingerprint biometrics. "Integrating WEB-key into
the application was a simple and straightforward process," added Rich
Franzmeier, Intertech consultant on the project. "Establishing the identity of
the officer who is electronically signing the document with fingerprint
biometrics is vital to ensuring the integrity of the signature."

"BIO-key continues to be the biometric software of choice for commercial and
civil applications requiring a cost effective, convenient and accurate
identification alternative," added Mike DePasquale, President & CEO of BIO-key
International. "Minnesota's eCharging application and the US Federal Courts
Probation and Pretrial Services biometric kiosk deployments are two recent
examples of government applications deploying our technology to improve
security and reduce operating costs."

About BIO-key
BIO-key International, Inc., headquartered in Wall, New Jersey, develops and
delivers advanced identification solutions and information services to law
enforcement departments, public safety agencies, government and private sector
customers. BIO-key's mobile wireless technology provides first responders with
critical, reliable, real-time data and images from local, state and national
databases. BIO-key's high performance, scalable, cost-effective and
easy-to-deploy biometric finger identification technology accurately
identifies and authenticates users of wireless and enterprise data to improve
security, convenience and privacy and to reduce identity theft. Over 1,000
police departments in North America use BIO-key solutions, making BIO-key the
leading supplier of mobile and wireless solutions for law enforcement.
(http://www.bio-key.com)

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to
certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected on the basis of these statements. The words
"estimate," "project," "intends," "expects," "believes" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, as well as
assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management
pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. For a more complete description of these and other risk
factors that may affect the future performance of BIO-key International, see
"Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB and its other
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only
as of the date made. The Company also undertakes no obligation to disclose any
revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.

CONTACT: Charles Yanak of BIO-key International, Inc.,
+1-732-359-1113, bud.yanak@bio-key.com

SOURCE BIO-key International, Inc.

Charles Yanak of BIO-key International, Inc., +1-732-359-1113,
bud.yanak@bio-key.com