Fingerprint Database Interoperability
The ability of fingerprint databases in different jurisdictions to share data with each other — interoperability of the databases
— can be influenced by both technology and policy. Through secure network connections, the automated fingerprint identification
system (AFIS) in Jurisdiction A can be networked to the AFIS in Jurisdiction B so that either jurisdiction can search the
fingerprints in the other. The two jurisdictions typically must have an AFIS manufactured by the same vendor or have a way
for two different systems to communicate. The two agencies typically also must have some official agreement, such as a memorandum
of understanding that defines the terms of the information sharing; otherwise the searching will be done on an ad hoc basis.
The total national infrastructure of AFIS maintained by federal, state, local and tribal agencies can be thought of as the
national criminal justice AFIS enterprise, and how the systems communicate with each other will depend on the network architecture
and access controls.
Fingerprint searches can be done in either a vertical (e.g., local to state, state to federal) or a horizontal (e.g., local
to local, state to state) manner. As a result, interoperability can be considered at different levels of geographic or jurisdictional
granularity: local, regional intrastate, state, regional interstate and national. The extent to which an authorized AFIS user
such as a criminal investigator can launch a latent fingerprint search from his or her computer in the national criminal justice
AFIS enterprise and search for a fingerprint match in databases maintained in other jurisdictions can be thought of as the
level of interoperability.
Date Created: March 28, 2013