HHPD Gets
"Livescan" System
The
Hasbrouck Heights Police Department has acquired an automatic
"Livescan" fingerprint system that is online all
the time. The main console is located in the Police Department.
A portable kit allows the Department to go to schools to conduct
the child safety ID program. Both the console and mobile unit
cost $25,000. $20,000 came from confiscated drug funds and
$5,000 was donated by an anonymous Hasbrouck Heights resident.
Inked
Fingerprints
A
known print is the intentional recording of the friction ridges,
usually with black printer’s ink rolled across a contrasting
white background, typically a standard white fingerprint card.
With traditional ink fingerprinting, the Department had to
create three fingerprint cards: Hasbrouck Heights Police Department,
NJ State Police and FBI. Inked cards sent to the NJ State
Police and FBI could take 4-6 weeks for processing. If the
fingerprints were unacceptable, the person had to be re-fingerprinted.
Digital
Fingerprints
Friction
ridges can also be recorded digitally using a technique called
livescan. Livescan refers to the process of capturing fingerprints
directly into a digitized format as opposed to traditional
ink and paper methods. Fingers from a hand are first electronically
scanned at 1,000 dpi, followed by a scan of each finger. Each
scan verifies the quality of the fingerprint image immediately,
allowing for a rescan if necessary.
Electronic
fingerprinting established standardized data elements for
the booking transaction that facilitates the sharing of information
between participating agencies and supports the FBI’s
goal to move to electronic fingerprint submissions.
Benefits
"Livescan
systems allow the department to produce consistent high quality
fingerprint images, thereby reducing rejection rates from
the FBI, saving time and money in processing and in other
related administrative costs," stated Police Chief Michael
Colaneri.
The
manual booking process often required the booking officer
to take anywhere from 3 to 10 sets of fingerprints while the
livescan fingerprint device only requires a single set of
fingerprints that can print out any number of copies for record
purposes.
Digital
prints taken from a suspect can be processed and checked in
a matter of hours instead of taking several days or weeks.
This reduces the chance of a police department prematurely
releasing a dangerous criminal.
Livescan
is integrated with the Hasbrouck Heights Police Department
Records Bureau and about half of the police departments in
Bergen County that have digital fingerprinting machines. Livescan
technology also integrates with multiple federal and state
databases.
The
electronic submission of fingerprints to the FBI reduces the
identification response time from several weeks to less than
two hours.
This
process virtually eliminates the rejection of fingerprints
by the FBI because of poor quality that is associated with
inked/paper fingerprint cards. ###
Hasbrouck Heights Police Department
un-Official web-site