NCJ Number
107816
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 54 Issue: 10 Dated: (October 1987) Pages: 61-63
Date Published
1987
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS's) have vastly enhanced the effectiveness of fingerprints in criminal identification and appear to have contributed to a downward trend in crime statistics.
Abstract
To date, at least 15 States and 20 cities and counties have or are implementing AFIS's. The sharing of data among agencies and municipalities is the next step. California is planning the first statewide automated identification network. When operational, it will provide law enforcement agencies throughout the State with remote terminals for conducting fingerprint searches and retrieving fingerprint images for hard-copy printout or screen display. Two-way interactive devices also are being tested that allow live inked or latent prints to be read instantly and transmitted to the State's AFIS. With these new technologies becoming increasingly available at an affordable cost, the broad base of fingerprint files compiled over the last 90 years will soon be instantly available to local police, providing a powerful new weapon in the fight against crime.