We propose a new optical method which conceals the data of authorized persons by encryption before they are stored or compared in the pattern recognition system for security systems. This proposed security system is made up of two subsystems : a proposed optical encryption system and a pattern recognition system based on the JTC which has been shown to perform well. In this system, each image of authorized persons as a reference image is stored in memory units through the proposed encryption system. And if a fingerprint image is placed in the input plane of this security system for access to a restricted area, the image is encoded by the encryption system then compared with the encrypted reference image. Therefore because the captured input image and the reference data are encrypted, it is difficult to decrypt the image if one does not know the encryption key bit stream. The basic idea is that the input image is encrypted by performing optical XOR operations with the key bit stream that is generated by digital encryption algorithms. The optical XOR operations between the key bit stream and the input image are performed by the polarization encoding method using the polarization characteristics of LCDs. The results of XOR operations which are detected by a CCD camera should be used as an input to the JTC for comparison with a data base. We have verified the idea proposed here with computer simulations and the simulation results were also shown.