Page 98 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

AFIS SUMMAR Y—HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS 83

ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes. A cold search, i.e., a search
without any parameters will take slightly longer.
Beginning in 1999, latent examiners could have their cases searched against
the FBI’s database with the implementation of the Remote Fingerprint Editing
Software (RFES) terminal linking the offices with the FBI. The purpose of the
RFES is to provide the fingerprint identification community with a software
package that enables fingerprint examiners to perform immediate remote
searches against the FBI’s IAFIS on a 24/7 basis. This capability makes RFES
an important aid in fighting crime on both the statewide and the national level.
RFES provides access to 46 million fingerprint records (or 460 million finger-
print images) contributed to the FBI from states across the country. 2
A parallel FBI development, the Universal Latent Workstation (ULW), allows
latent print examiners to also search IAFIS as well as other databases. ULW
creates a native feature set for vendors and IAFIS to allow searches from a single
encoding. ULW translates the native search record (provided in ANSI/NIST
format) into an IAFIS search, adds in the ridge counts, and allows edits of the
record before submission. ULW requires e-mail connectivity to the Criminal
Justice Information Services (CJIS) wide area network (WAN). 3

4.2.3 UNSOLVED LATENT SEARCH
Not every latent print search will result in identification. While actual figures
may vary, the rule of thumb is that only 10–15% of cases and 2–3% of latent
print searches will result in an identification. Many latent print examiners
will search the latent print more than one time to allow for differences in
image capture, manual minutia placement, or other variables. After a reason-
able number of additional searches, or relaunches, the examiner either
deletes the AFIS case or saves the latent print information into the unsolved
latent (UL) file.
The UL file, which is always smaller than the tenprint database, contains case
information, case images(s), and minutiae. When a new tenprint inquiry is
made, the two index fingers are searched against the tenprint file, and all ten
fingers can be searched against the UL file. If there is enough minutiae match
to produce a candidate, the latent print case will be marked for review by the
examiner.
The exact details of this process may vary from agency to agency and vendor
to vendor. Some systems only search new tenprint records, since the latent print
has already been searched against the existing tenprint records in the database.

2 http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/rfes.pdf.
3 http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/ulw.htm.