Wisconsin Department of Justice Identification Manual - Imprimus ...

Electronic Fingerprint
Submissions
Electronic Benefits
During the entire history of fingerprint submission, there has been only one reliable
way to obtain a good, classifiable set of fingerprints, ink & roll.
While ink & roll has proved its reliability, it has its drawbacks. Image quality
largely depends on the skill of the person rolling the prints, the type of inking system
used and the cooperation of the person being fingerprinted. Often times, a set of
fingerprints that looked classifiable when rolled are ultimately rejected at
identification. By this time, the person fingerprinted has been released and getting
them back to fingerprint again may be difficult, if not impossible.
Breakthroughs in capture equipment and compression algorithms along with
standardization of formats now make electronic capture and submission of
fingerprints not only possible but preferable. The major benefit of electronic
fingerprint submission is the quality control built into the systems, both for image
and data quality. Poor quality images have a much better chance of being identified
prior to an individual’s release, making re-fingerprinting possible.
The speed with which electronic fingerprints may be processed also greatly reduces
the amount of time needed to make an identification and return the reply to the
booking agency. Eventual implementation of Lights Out processing will allow for
identification 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Finally, electronic submission reduces booking time. Before electronic capture, an
agency wishing to book an individual for an offense reportable to both the state and
FBI needed to ink and roll three fingerprints cards, one for the agency, one for CIB
and one for the FBI, in addition to any required final disposition forms. Today, the
images are captured once electronically and, in most instances, the text data for the
arrest card is imported directly from the agency’s record management system.
Electronic Submission Equipment
There are two very different types of devices used to submit fingerprint cards
electronically:
Live Scan Workstation
Live scan workstations are inkless systems where the fingerprint impressions are
scanned through a glass platen. Quality controls monitor image quality along with
proper finger placement. Source data for the fingerprint card is either entered
directly into the Live scan device or received through an interface with a records
management system. Fingerprint cards may be printed locally.
Wisconsin Department of Justice Identification Manual Electronic Fingerprint Submissions • 611