Page 92 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

AFIS SUMMAR Y—HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS 77

placement and the fingerprint image quality are checked. The palms of each
hand of the subject are placed on the platen of the livescan machine and those
images are captured. Digital mug shots may be taken, along with descriptions
of scars, marks, and tattoos (SMT), and entered into the system. If necessary,
corrections are made. The images and biographic data can be mailed, faxed,
or sent electronically to the state or local identification agency that operates
the AFIS system. Because developmental efforts support electronic transmis-
sion, and an increasing percentage of arrest transactions are sent electronically,
that method is described in this overview.
To send the information about the subject electronically, it must be locally
formatted, following state and national standards, into an electronic arrest
transaction that consists of the ten rolled finger images and four plain impres-
sion fingerprints, mug shots, SMT data, and the individual’s arrest and bio-
graphic data. This is transmitted over secure data communication networks
using secure encryption. A common variant is the secure purchase of a product
over the Internet.
If an electronic bridge into AFIS is operational, no fingerprint card is printed
at AFIS. Instead, the transaction information will be electronically saved and
a temporary process control number (PCN) attached to the transaction. This
PCN will be replaced by either an existing SID number if the subject is
already in the system or a new SID number if this is the first tenprint record
(see Figure 4.3).
The data is checked for completeness and proper format before it is accepted
for further processing. If data is missing or incomplete, the image quality is

Figure 4.3
Tenprint Processing Tenprint Processing
Tenprint Processing
Overview
Single
Single
Single
Finger
Finger
Finger
New SID
New SID
Search
Search
Mail
Mail
Mail
AFIS
AFIS
Database
Database
Verification
Fax Verification
Fax
Fax
Rap
Rap
Store
Store
Live Scan & & Search
Live Scan
Forward
Forward FBI
IAFIS
Existing
Existing
SID
SID