Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) is a national fingerprint and criminal history system maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The IAFIS provides automated fingerprint search capabilities, latent searching capability, electronic image storage, and electronic exchange of fingerprints and responses. The IAFIS maintains the largest biometric database in the world, containing the fingerprints and corresponding criminal history information for more than 47 million subjects in the Criminal Master File.
Fingerprints are voluntarily submitted to the FBI by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. These agencies acquire the fingerprints through criminal arrests or from non-criminal sources, such as employment background checks. The FBI then catalogs the fingerprints along with any criminal history linked with the subject.
Law enforcement agencies can then request a search in IAFIS to identify fingerprints taken during criminal investigations. Civil searches are also performed, however the FBI charges a small fee and the response time is slower.
