NCJ Number
189239
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 28 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 126-129
Date Published
June 2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the content and implementation of "The AFIS Curriculum," a 3-day program that focuses on automated-fingerprint-identification-systems (AFIS) issues for the instruction of identification specialists.
Abstract
The course is held at the facilities of the Sirchie Finger Print Labs in Youngsville, NC. The class is taught by Marty Ludas, a certified latent print examiner with the City-County Bureau of Identification, which serves Wake County and Raleigh, NC. Ludas has almost 30 years of experience in fingerprint identification. The course points out that the single greatest stumbling block to AFIS success is poor quality standard prints. Class discussion also addresses the need for policies and procedures to be promulgated by identification professionals. This is because administrators and politicians have typically misinterpreted automated technology to mean that computers identify fingerprints and that automation decreases personnel requirements. In fact, automated fingerprint identification systems act to filter the questioned impression against the entire file in the database, and thus increase the speed at which an identification specialist may select possible candidates for comparison; consequently, personnel needs increase. As an ever-increasing number of comparisons and identifications are made, more latent examiners will be required. The course features strategies and tactics an examiner may use to help the system sift through its storage and create a pick list with the correct suspect. The course, which is aimed exclusively at the identification specialist who is working with AFIS technology, provides an excellent platform for professionals to interact and learn advanced automated identification concepts.