The Importance of Centralizing Criminal Booking
If you read our blog series, True Crime Stories, you learned how murders that went unsolved for years were cleared thanks to biometric data that could finally be compared to an entire database of biometrics. In short, catching the bad guys has become easier than ever. Thanks for this, we have the advent of hardware and software that collects fingerprints and other biometrics from criminals. Two factors in collecting fingerprints have significantly improved over time:
- The process for fingerprint capturing is much more efficient due to digitization of fingerprint images
- Fingerprint images that are stored in AFIS* have a better quality, thanks to instant quality checks of the image
The Right System Can Help Catch Criminals
However, as the New York Post reported in 2018, statistics show that in the U.S. alone, there is more than a 40% chance a murder will go unsolved. While there are many factors contributing to this high number of unsolved cases, there are things we can do from a system point of view to help reduce this distressing statistic.
Locally Managed Systems Can Lead to Inefficiencies
Many criminal booking systems are stand-alone booking systems which lead to inefficiencies when managing large amounts of criminal enrollment data. Data is spread among several individual systems, and it becomes a challenge to find records or handle responses from Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS)* systems in a timely manner. These challenges can be effectively managed with web-based enrollment solutions.
Web-Based Enrollment Software Can Do Everything That Desktop Software Can Do and More
Today, web-based enrollment solutions can host full applications and workflows as well as manage user views and privileges equivalent to desktop software. Users benefit from:
- Centralized data management
- Centralized user management, groups and permissions
- Cross-data search function
- Better user experiences
Browsers can handle large amounts of data including the collection and transmission of palm prints, which produce large images yet have traditionally only been handled by dedicated desktop applications.
Web-Based Enrollment Software Becomes Plug-and-Play Software
With these advances in technology, law enforcement organizations are now able to deploy web-based criminal booking systems, without compromise, simply by plugging a palm scanner into a PC, laptop or tablet and performing a full criminal booking via a web browser application. This opens possibilities in terms of reusing existing hardware, and also makes it possible to support the solution more easily across multiple locations and in the field.
Existing Data Can Be Migrated to a Web-Based Enrollment Solution
You may be wondering if moving to a new web-based enrollment solution leaves your existing data behind? The answer is simple ― no. Migrating your legacy records from your desktop systems and moving them into a centrally managed web-based enrollment solution can be done easily. You don’t have to lose your legacy data when you upgrade to a web-based enrollment solution.
Just as we have moved from dedicated desktop applications in many areas of our lives, now is the time to consider the advantages of moving to a web-based criminal enrollment solution to better serve your mission. Enhancing your system and having access to better fingerprint images are crucial to catching more criminals.
In our white paper, Higher Quality Fingerprint Collection With Silicone Membranes, read more about how law enforcement agencies can enhance the image quality when trying to capture dry fingers.
*AFIS is a tool to match fingerprints against a database of known and unknown prints.