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Law Enforcement Services
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Brian O'Keefe, Administrator • Biography
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Criminalistics - AFIS Specialist
AFIS Specialists operate the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS),
providing identification information to all law enforcement agencies in
Wisconsin. This system serves as the central repository for fingerprint
identification records relating to persons arrested throughout the state.
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| AFIS Full Function Workstation |
Coded Fingerprint Image |
AFIS is a computer-based system for reading, cataloging, searching, matching
and storing fingerprints, palm prints, latent prints and related demographic
data. It has the necessary software and hardware to acquire, digitize, process,
store, and retrieve fingerprint and palm print images from ten print cards,
latent evidence cards, and live image scans. The AFIS compares fingerprints and
palm prints and identifies possible matches based on minutiae associated with
ridge endings, bifurcation's and associated demographic data. This system
interfaces with the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System
(IAFIS), providing Wisconsin law enforcement agencies access to nationwide and
international criminal justice information.
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| AFIS Ten Print Record |
Ten Print Comparison |
Palm Print Comparison |
The AFIS Specialists process fingerprints and palm prints of subjects
arrested or taken into custody from booking facilities throughout the state.
These fingerprint images are captured electronically by either a livescan or
card scan device, which creates a National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) record. This NIST record is then transmitted electronically to the
Gateway Service Provider (GSP), which passes information back and forth between
different databases maintained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) during the processing of
fingerprint records. The AFIS Specialists process fingerprints and palm prints
for the purpose of establishing positive identification and creating an
individual's criminal history record. AFIS Specialists perform quality control
on images and finger sequence errors for all fingerprint records that are rated
poor. AFIS Specialists perform verification of all possible matches for both ten
print-to-ten print searches and ten print-to-unsolved latent searches. All ten
print and palm print arrest records are searched through AFIS against the
unsolved latent print database in an attempt to identify suspects that leave
their prints at crime scenes.
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| Ten Print Card |
Palm Prints |
Whorl Pattern |
Minutiae Map |
Latent Print Image |
The DOJ's original AFIS was installed in 1993. A major upgrade was
completed during the summer of 2003, and currently is the repository for over
1-million fingerprint records. AFIS processes approximately 45,000 tenprint,
latent print, palm print and Fast-ID identification and verification
transactions per month.
Fingerprint and palm print data entered into the state's AFIS and processed by
the AFIS Specialist is shared statewide by the AFIS remote sites at the Crime
Laboratories in Madison, Milwaukee and Wausau, the Madison, Green Bay, Racine
and Milwaukee Police Departments as well as the Milwaukee County Sheriff's
Office.
| AFIS Pattern Types |
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| A = Arch |
\ = Right Hand
Slant Loop |
/ = Left Hand
Slant Loop |
W = Whorl |
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