Automated Fingerprint Indentification System

In 1989, the Missouri State Highway Patrol implemented the state's first AFIS system (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) to enhance the efficiency of criminal identification and fingerprint processing. The AFIS system was purchased in 1988 from Sagem Morpho, Inc., an internationally-based high technology company, which specializes in security solutions. AFIS is, in essence, a highly sophisticated computer system that electronically encodes, searches and stores the images of fingerprints and palmprints. Like any computerized database, the overall quality of the database hinges on the quality of the information that is entered into the system. Therefore, it is extremely important for fingerprint and palmprint submissions to be of the highest quality possible. The capture and submission of high quality fingerprint and palmprint images will ensure the most accurate search possible. The AFIS database began with an initial database of 400,000 fingerprints. The database is now comprised of over 2.7 million tenprints, a full set of rolled impressions containing data on all ten fingers, nearly 1.5 million palm print images, and over 60,000 unsolved latent prints.