Why
is this page here?
This
page was created in 2002 to fill gaps, but not to replace existing fingerprint
data sharing activities. Most countries have national-level
fingerprint archives that are all-encompassing or nearly
all-encompassing. That is not the case in America and some other
countries.
Fingerprint sharing
initiatives to overcome problems precluding local and state agencies from
searching each others' fingerprint databases have been promoted for years by
the International Association for Identification (IAI), the FBI, ANSI/NIST,
and in 2009 by the National Academies of Science. In America and other countries there are many excellent
local, state, regional and national automated fingerprint identification
system (AFIS) databases enabling fingerprint*
sharing, BUT there are also huge technology and policy/legal gaps that
enable criminals to continue victimizing society by going undetected.
The civil liberties enjoyed by Americans and citizens of many other
countries are important and must be protected by privacy laws appropriately
limiting fingerprint collection, searching and sharing. However, most
proponents of privacy laws encourage the legal sharing of unidentified
prints from unsolved crimes.
If you have an identifiable
fingerprint from a "who done it" kidnapping/murder case, you will
certainly search and register that print in your local, state,
regional and national AFIS databases, but such sharing omits comparison
against millions of other fingerprints available in AFIS
databases.
Unless
you are expending the resources to continuously send important unsolved crime
fingerprints nationwide, you are potentially missing identifications in the
following AFIS database categories:
Minor
Offense Arrest Records: There
are millions of criminal arrest fingerprints for minor offenses
(shoplifting, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, etc.) that exist in
local and/or state databases but NOT in the FBI's national fingerprint
database.
Suspect
Prints: There
are millions of "suspect" (non-arrest) fingerprint records that
are collected by investigators and entered into local or state AFIS
databases for investigative purposes, but which are searched without
retention (or never searched at all) in external fingerprint databases due to
local policies and applicable statutes. At some agencies,
"suspect" fingerprints are purged from the local and/or state
AFIS after a negative (no identifications) search result, but at many
agencies suspect fingerprints are retained and constantly searched
against newly arriving unsolved crime fingerprints in that
jurisdiction.
Latent
Prints:
Because
of manpower resource limitations, most agencies search and register latent
prints from only their most serious crimes
in the FBI's national Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification
System (IAFIS, also known by its more modern term of Next Generation
Identification or NGI). This
means that there are millions of latent prints from unsolved burglaries,
larcenies and other lesser offenses registered in local, state and
regional AFIS databases... prints which could provide links between your
case and multiple other unsolved cases that you will never know
about. Information linking a suspect to (for example) having lived
in certain areas or traveled to certain areas during specific time frames
may provide an important investigative
lead.
Juvenile
Prints:
There are millions of fingerprints annually collected from juvenile
suspects in America, but rules governing juvenile fingerprinting vary
greatly between jurisdictions. Depending on applicable policies and
statutes, such fingerprints may or may not be recorded at all. And,
if fingerprinted, they may or may not be searched and/or retained in
external databases. The suspect who deposited the unidentified
fingerprint related to your serious crime may have a juvenile arrest
fingerprint record that only exists in the AFIS controlled by the
jurisdiction where he/she was printed.
Civil
Prints:
There are millions of fingerprints annually collected in America for
background clearances/investigations involving privileges such as school
bus drivers, liquor sale permits, employment in businesses selling lottery
tickets, employment in pharmacies, taxi driver permits, and many more
activities. Depending on applicable policies and statutes, such
civil fingerprints are often searched through
local/state/regional/national AFIS databases to determine any prior
criminal arrest history, but are typically NOT retained in external
databases. At some agencies, such civil fingerprints are purged from
the local and/or state AFIS after a negative (no identifications) search
result, but in many localities the civil fingerprints are retained and
constantly searched for valid purposes such as determining that a person
is not applying for privileges using multiple identities, for verification
that the person who took an employment test is the same person who showed
up for work, for comparison against newly arriving unsolved crime latent
fingerprints in that jurisdiction, and for other important reasons
permitted by applicable policies and statutes.
Other Prints:
There are other categories of fingerprints that may not be shared
externally with other databases, but which are available for internal
searching pursuant to applicable policies and statues. Some examples
are elimination prints collected from witnesses or victims of local
crimes, and fingerprints of persons with mental disorders who were deemed
incompetent to stand trial or otherwise technically never
"arrested."
This
page
facilitates easy sharing of finger and palm prints from serious cases. This
page does not purport to reflect the position or opinion of any organization
with which the webservant was or has been associated or employed. Civil
liberties and protection from unlawful fingerprint
collection/searching/sharing are important and are addressed in many places on
the www such
as here.
What prints
are here?
Primarily
impressions from murders, kidnappings, and
other serious crimes. Agencies are requested to post only unidentified impressions from
their most serious offenses. Agencies are not required to provide ANY offense
details for submitted impressions. Inked print or live scan impressions
from persons an agency desires to identify may also be posted here.
Any offense
date, offense location, or victim names will be redacted before posting
here.
Who can post
here?
Any
law enforcement agency worldwide can e-mail latent or inked (or live scan)
finger or palm prints they desire searched in all possible (worldwide)
AFIS systems.
What if I identify
an impression from this site.
E-mail
identswanted@onin.com
relating only which impression you identified (do
not e-mail the identity ). Your contact
information will be forwarded to the agency which posted the impression
at this site and they will contact you directly. E-mail from your official
agency e-mail account.
If you are in America or Canada, you may use an FBI LEO account as an alternative
to your official agency account. DO
NOT APPREHEND OR APPROACH
any person identified from impressions at this web site unless you first
contact the agency posting the impression AND verify you have lawful authority
for such action. Some impressions posted here are from decades old
offenses so timely notification is usually not an issue. Also, latent prints
from serious crimes may have an innocuous origin and the person identified
may not be involved any criminal activity.
Why are no details
posted?
Offense
location, date and other information could reveal that identifiable impressions
from a specific offense exist. Such a revelation may be detrimental to
the investigation. Also, such information could encourage unnecessary voyuers
(wasting bandwidth) at this site. Generic notes such as "light ridge color"
or "right thumb from inked FP card" may be posted as appropriate.
What about palmprints
or fragmentary impressions?
Palmprints
or fragmentary impressions may be posted for search by agencies with such
capabilities.
How long will
prints be posted here?
At the
current time, indefinitely, although impressions may be retired to a linked
archive after posting on this page. When identified, a notice and list of impressions identified
(by control number) will be posted on, or linked from, this page to enable you to delete
any impressions you may have registered in your system.
How do I submit
impressions?
E-mail
only one impression per message as 1000 or 500 ppi bitmap (bmp) files from
your official government e-mail account to identswanted@onin.com.
If you are in America or Canada, you may use an FBI LEO account (www.leo.gov) as an alternative
to your official agency account. Furnish your name, phone number, agency
name, agency street address and the local reference number for the impression
(which is not required to be the real case number for the investigation).
Your local reference number will not be used on this web site.
Ground
Rules for Submissions
Any
impressions submitted should have already been searched against all available
finger and palm print databases to which the agency has access. Any impressions
submitted should have already been manually compared against all known
suspect, witness (roommate, etc.), investigator and victim impressions.
The one best quality (clarity) and quantity of ridge detail impression
should be submitted from an investigation. Only one impression per agency
will typically be posted among the ten current impressions on this web
site.
*
The term fingerprint should be construed as meaning finger and/or palm prints
anywhere it appears on this page.
Please send a
note to the webservant about
errors/suggestions/questions/comments related to this page.
Updated 21 Dec
2009
Page created 18 Jan 2002
