Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States A Path Forward (2009) / Chapter Skim
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10 Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems
10 Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems
Pages 269-278
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From page 269... ...
Before the use of AFIS, the fingerprint identification process involved numerous clerks and fingerprint examiners sifting through thousands of tediously classified and cataloged paper fingerprint cards, while dealing with delays and challenges caused by the realities of exchanging information with other agencies by mail, fax, or other means. With AFIS, fingerprint examiners use computer workstations to mark the features of a scanned fingerprint image (e.g., ridge endings, bifurcations)
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From page 270... ...
Because latent print images normally are not as clear or as complete as images from a 10-print card, the image processing algorithms used for 10-prints are not as good as the human eye in spotting features in poor images. AFIS has been a significant improvement for the law enforcement community over the past decades, but AFIS deployments today are still far from optimal.
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From page 271... ...
Indeed, different versions of similar systems from the same vendor sometimes cannot share fingerprint data with one another. In addition, many law enforcement agencies also access the FBI's IAFIS database through an entirely separate stand-alone system -- a fact that often forces fingerprint examiners into entering fingerprint data for one search multiple times (at least once for each system being searched)
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From page 272... ...
It defined standards for minutiae data and low- and high-resolution fingerprint images in both binary and grayscale for mat, as well as methods for compressing and decompressing image data. In the late 1990s, the International Association for Identification's AFIS Com mittee successfully demonstrated a method of conducting remote fingerprint searches across jurisdictions and across equipment from different vendors.a In 2003, the ANSI/NIST standard was updated again.
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From page 273... ...
, information sharing networks in the real estate world, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Information Network, and even the Internet itself, each of which functions only by reliance on a number of finely crafted and agreed standards and protocols -- is proof that efforts to develop and implement standards pay off in the end by allowing greater collaboration and sharing of information. One other major area of technical challenge to achieving AFIS interoperability involves the algorithms that systems use to identify features in fingerprint images (e.g., how a system determines that a given pattern of pixels corresponds to a true ridge ending or bifurcation and how it infers what type of feature those pixels actually represent)
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From page 274... ...
Thus, an examiner will not necessar ily encode every point that can be seen in a latent fingerprint, but rather may limit his encoding to points in a defined area in which the ridge count between points is clear. The fact that today's systems often do not effectively utilize most of the available feature information and require substantial input from fingerprint examiners suggests that there is significant room for improvement. An ideal, comprehensive AFIS, for example, would be capable of automated: • reading of latent prints; • encoding of most features of usable quality, including those fea tures identified as Level 1 (fingerprint classes such as whorl, arch)
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From page 275... ...
that would permit authorized latent print examiners in any jurisdiction to submit queries to IAFIS and other federated AFIS databases, as well as the development of standard procedures for maintaining AFIS databases securely, removing redundancies, ensuring that fingerprint data are entered properly, and conducting quality control and validation of searches (i.e., ensuring that queries are actually searching an entire database)
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From page 276... ...
Administrative, Legal, and Policy Issues As noted earlier, most AFIS implementations are either stand-alone systems or are part of relatively limited regional databases. To achieve truly interoperable systems, jurisdictions must work more closely together to craft acceptable agreements and policies to govern the routine sharing of fingerprint information.
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From page 277... ...
Given the disparity in resources and information technology expertise available to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, the relatively slow pace of interoperability efforts to date, and the potential gains that would accrue from increased AFIS interoperability, the committee believes that a new emphasis on achieving nationwide fingerprint data interoperability is needed. Recommendation 12: Congress should authorize and appropriate funds for the National Institute of Forensic Science (NIFS)
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From page 278... ...
278 STRENGTHENING FORENSIC SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES These steps toward AFIS interoperability must be accompanied by the provision of federal, state, and local funds to support jurisdictions in upgrading, operating, and ensuring the integrity and security of their systems; the retraining of current staff; and the training of new fingerprint examiners to gain the desired benefits of true interoperability. Additionally, greater scientific benefits can be realized through the availability of fingerprint data or databases for research purposes (using, of course, all the modern security and privacy protections available to scientists when working with such data)
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