mayor says fingerprints should be used to access public housing

"What we really should have is fingerprinting to get in," Bloomberg said while speaking on WOR-AM radio about ways to improve safety in public housing. "We've just gotta find some ways to keep bringing crime down there."

Bloomberg, whose third term in office expires at the end of this year, pointed out that locks on buildings were often broken.

The mayor said the projects, run by the largest public housing authority in North America, account for 20 percent of New York City's crime even though they house about 5 percent of its residents. Some 620,000 low- and moderate-income tenants live in the city's public housing.

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the mayor's office, said Bloomberg was talking about using fingerprint technology to replace traditional locks.