The California Department of Social Services is trying out military-style cameras to make sure the elderly and disabled who receive in-home care aren't committing fraud.
This week, the state is starting a pilot program in Sacramento and San Diego counties using MorphoTrak cameras. The cameras cost $5,000 each and have been used in Iraq. The state is borrowing the devices -- for now -- to fingerprint and take pictures of the 430,000 seniors and disabled people and their caregivers in the In-Home Supportive Services program.
Lizelda Lopez is with the Department of Social Services.
"These devices are intended to be used to establish identity for individuals so we can prevent duplicate aid," said Lopez.
But advocates for the disabled say the devices will do nothing to ferret out the kind of fraud the state claims is rampant: caregivers overstating hours worked and the disabled exaggerating their condition.
