ORGANIZATION OF CRIMINAL IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION (FROM PROJECT SEARCH - INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION AND STATISTICS SYSTEMS - PROCEEDINGS, 1972, BY GARY COOPER - SEE NCJ-09380)

• NCJ Number: 48304
• Author(s): J F PHILLIPS; C J WHITTAKER
• Date Published: 1972
• Length: 13 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; Project Search (See Search Group Inc)
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THE ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF A CANADIAN CRIMINAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM, UTILIZING A PHONETICALLY INDEXED NAME DIRECTORY (FIND) CODE, IS DESCRIBED.

Abstract

HAVING DECIDED ON A NAME-ORIENTED IDENTIFICATION FILE, AN EXAMINATION OF NAME DISTRIBUTION WITHIN THE FILE WAS UNDERTAKEN WHICH INDICATED A STABLE DISTRIBUTION. WHILE SOUNDEX-TYPE AND CODE-TO-LETTER TYPE ALGORITHMIC APPROACHES WERE WIDELY USED IN MANUAL FILES TO DEAL WITH THE VARIETY OF ORTHOGRAPHICAL, PHONOLOGICAL, AND OTHER NAME ALTERATIONS, THE LOSS OF SUBJECTIVITY CONSEQUENT TO MANUAL-BY-COMPUTER REPLACEMENT REQUIRES THAT CODIFICATION COMPENSATE TO SOME EXTENT FOR THIS LOSS. IT WAS DECIDED THAT INITIAL EMPHASIS SHOULD BE PLACED ON CODIFICATION RATHER THAN ORGANIZATION, INDEPENDENT OF NOTIONS OF SMOOTH ORGANIZATION AND OVERALL EQUAL DISTRIBUTION. THE FIND TECHNIQUE WAS DEVELOPED TO DEAL WITH NAME IDENTIFICATION PROBLEMS BY CROSS-REFERENCING NAMES WITH THEIR ORTHOGRAPHICAL AND/OR PHONOLOGICAL EQUIVALENTS. PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN DECIDING UPON A FILE ORGANIZATION WITHOUT JEOPARDIZING THE FIND CODE INVOLVED USE OF TWO LEVELS OF DATA STORAGE (HEADER AND DETAIL) AND FILE DISTRIBUTION OF DETAILED DATA (ACROSS SUBFILES OF DIFFERENT PAGE SIZES) IN ACCORDANCE WITH FIND CODE GROUP SIZES, THUS EMPLOYING ERRATIC DISTRIBUTION FOR THE MOST EFFICIENT UTILIZATION OF DIRECT ACCESS RESOURCES. INFORMATION RETRIEVAL IS VIA THE HEADER FILE TO THE DETAIL FILE. DIRECT ACCESS TO THE HEADER FILE IS EFFECTED BY RADIX TRANSFORMATION OF THE BINARY-CODED FIND CODE. THE HEADER FILE HAS A PAGE SIZE OF 41 RECORDS WITH A RECORD SIZE OF 40 BYTES AND CONTAINS THE FULL SURNAME WITH ITS RESPECTIVE DATA INCLUDING RELATIVE RECORD NUMBER OF THE FIRST DETAIL FILE PAGE FOR THE RESPECTIVE FIND CODE. THE DETAIL FILE IS COMPRISED OF MULTIPLE SUBFILES AND CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING: FINGERPRINT SECTION FILE NUMBER, SURNAME/CODE NUMBER, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY FINGERPRINT CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE SUBJECT, FIRST AND SECOND GIVEN NAMES, DATE OF BIRTH, BIRTHPLACE CODE, EYECOLOR CODE, 10 FINGERPRINT PATTERN TYPES, HEIGHT, RACE (IF NONWHITE), AND WEIGHT OF SUBJECT. THROUGH THE USE OF FIND CODE AND THE FILE ORGANIZAION, THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES ARE POSSIBLE: TO EMPLOY THE NAME CODE AS A DIRECT ACCESS KEY; TO SAVE MORE THAN 25 BYTES OF STORAGE; TO EFFECT 98 PERCENT DISK UTILIZATION; TO MINIMIZE READ TIME; AND TO PROVIDE FOR ADDITION/DELETION OF RECORDS WITHOUT ANY ANTICIPATED FILE REORGANIZATION IN THE NEAR FUTURE. SAMPLE HEADER AND DETAIL PAGES ARE PROVIDED TOGETHER WITH OTHER GRAPHIC AND TABULAR DATA. (JAP)