Aotomated Fingerprint Identification Systems

The use of fingerprints to identify criminals was pioneered by investigators at Scotland Yard at the turn of the century. This emerging technology pushed law enforcement capabilities into the modern era, and gave criminal investigators one of the most meaningful tools they had ever encountered for solving crimes. However, once the fingerprint identification system was arrived at and put to use, further development of the process was slow. In fact, prior to the 1960's, procedures for identifying fingerprints had changed very little since the development of the Henry Classification System at the turn of the century.

In the 1960's, Pierre Thibault of the French National Police began to develop a new system which was "

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g criminals to identify their accomplices and fences, and to confess to other crimes." It is important to note that in spite of all its advantages, the AFIS is not a perfect system. There have been some problems reported in connection with its use. For example, some users complain that the system is too technical and difficult to use. A recent article by Malcolm K. Sparrow in The Police Chief noting this problem stated that AFIS "are extremely complex and technically sophisticated systems." Perhaps more "user-friendly" programs can be developed in the future in order to counter or minimize this problem. Another typical complaint about the AFIS is that the system is simply too expensive to be put to practical use in most local police departments. Still others complain about lack of standardization between different systems, which makes it difficult or impossible for different departments to share data with one another. It is interesting to note that in contrast to those who praise its speed and accuracy, there are some police officers who "complain that their computers are too slow and too undependable for routine police work. A typical computer search of the files can take more than six seconds per fingerprint and often o
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2621
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)