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34 AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS

or available for another printing. Other identification bureaus took a somewhat
different approach. These bureaus were willing to include records that did not
meet the FBI quality standards in their tenprint databases. The managers of
these bureaus took the position that it was better to have some finger images,
even poor-quality images, than no images. Either approach may lead to missed
idents, and arguments can be made for each.
The procedure of sending the FBI a tenprint card for virtually every felony
booking was a contributing factor to the growth of the FBI fingerprint files. The
growth of the military during World War II and the subsequent fingerprinting
of new enlistees also caused a massive increase in the number of records main-
tained by the FBI. In addition, fingerprint records for non-criminal purposes,
such as background checks and licensing, grew in number, which also con-
tributed to the increasing number of records.
By 1946, the FBI had more than 100 million fingerprint cards on file, but
since many of these cards contained prints of the same person, e.g., one person
would be given a new card for each new job application requiring a fingerprint
or each new arrest, the number of different individual records on file was prob-
ably less. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the FBI and local and state identifica-
tion bureaus continued to increase the size of their files. In addition to the
actual fingerprint cards, identification bureaus also found their files beginning
to fill with disposition information.
By 1971, the FBI was reported to have over 200 million records. The stan-
dard FBI fingerprint card is 8 inches ¥ 8 inches, or 0.56 square feet. Multiplied
by 200 million records, that gives 112,500,000 square feet, or about 2.5 square
miles of records. That is a large area, larger than the National Mall in Wash-
ington, DC. The accumulation of so many records offered not only challenges
for storage and maintenance, but also opportunities for improving the identi-
fication process across the country. If uniformity could be introduced to the
records, it would become feasible for some of the information to be exchanged
with different identification bureaus. An increase in communication speed,
more reliable lines, and better equipment would begin to be seen.
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a computerized database
storing criminal justice information, began operation in 1967. The NCIC pro-
vided a mechanism for law enforcement agencies to share information, partic-
ularly information on wanted offenders. While not a fingerprint-based system,
the NCIC, and its successor, NCIC 2000, offered a mechanism to query the FBI
database using descriptive image data. This proved a great advancement, since
this sharing of information required participating agencies to use common
terms and to send messages in an agreed-upon format. By 1983, the Interstate
Identification Index (III) was added to NCIC. Participating states and local