Wisconsin Department of Justice Identification Manual - Imprimus ...

Introduction
History
In 1969 the Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law a bill which created
Statute Sections 165.83 and 165.84. These Sections provided that the Division of
Law Enforcement Services (DLES) in the Department of Justice establish a central
repository of identification information and provided that all criminal justice
agencies in the state cooperate and provide information to the repository. The
Attorney General and the Administrator of the Division created the Crime
Information Bureau (CIB) to implement and maintain the Identification Information
system provided for by the Statutes.
The Wisconsin Identification System was established July 1, 1971, and is designed
to serve Wisconsin law enforcement and criminal justice agencies as a central
repository for identification information and is compatible with the historic
Identification Division activities of the FBI. The Wisconsin system is designed to
allow for the coordinated exchange of state and national information of interest
throughout the United States and the identifying data in the CIB files has proven to
be extremely vital to Wisconsin law enforcement and criminal justice operations.
Identification Manual Overview
The Crime Information Bureau (CIB), an agency of the Division of Law
Enforcement Services within the Wisconsin Department of Justice, is charged with
the responsibility of maintaining complete and accurate identification information.
In accordance with the Wisconsin State Statutes 165.83 and 165.84, the CIB must
process, and all persons in charge of Wisconsin law enforcement agencies must
obtain, or cause to be obtained; fingerprints, descriptions, photographs, and other
available identifying data on persons who have been arrested or taken into custody
pursuant to s. 165.83 (2); for an offense which is a felony; for an offense which is a
misdemeanor or a violation of an ordinance involving burglary tools, commercial
gambling, dealing in gambling devices, contributing to the delinquency of a child,
dealing in stolen property, controlled substances under Chapter 961, firearms,
dangerous weapons, explosives, pandering, prostitution, sex offenses where children
are victims, worthless checks; for an offense charged as disorderly conduct but
which relates to an act connected with one or more of the above listed offenses; or as
a fugitive from justice. Additionally, the Crime Information Bureau must process
fingerprints and identifying data taken at the discretion of law enforcement agencies
on persons arrested or taken into custody for other offenses and obtain fingerprints
and identifying data on unidentified human corpses found in the state. Fingerprints
obtained pursuant to Wisconsin Stats. 165.83 and 165.84 must be forwarded to
the Crime Information Bureau within 24 hours after they are obtained. In
addition, persons not arrested or taken into custody by law enforcement agencies for
mandatory fingerprintable offenses, but who are summoned or issued a citation for a
mandatory offense, shall have fingerprints obtained at the initial appearance before a
judge in accordance with s. 970.02 (7).
Wisconsin Department of Justice Identification Manual Introduction • 1