The Owensboro Police Department has recently received a new computer system designed to allow for the electronic transmission of latent fingerprint evidence directly to the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) as well as the Kentucky Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
The new system, called the MorphoTrak Automated Fingerprint Identification System, will allow OPD to continue to electronically submit latent print evidence even after the FBI discontinues its current submission method using their Direct Latent Connectivity program, scheduled to be discontinued on June 30, 2017. The new system was made possible through a grant provided by the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security in the amount of $76,986.00.
The Owensboro Police Department is one of approximately 100 agencies in the United States that has fingerprint examiners on staff. By electronically submitting fingerprints for analysis through AFIS, our print examiner can then conduct a print comparison between those we submit and the possible matches generated by the Federal and State AFIS systems. Without this new system acquisition, fingerprint evidence would have to be mailed to the Kentucky State Police lab for analysis and in turn, mailed back to OPD. This new equipment takes what would typically be weeks or months and reduces it to as short as hours or days.
Through the combined use of the MorphoTrak Automated Fingerprint Identification System for electronic print submissions and the on-staff latent fingerprint examiners at OPD, we will be able to provide the best service possible to the Owensboro community by reducing the time it takes for print comparisons.
