Federal Computer Week reports on a new mobile system deployed throughout the United States that allows police officers to check fingerprints of someone, say, pulled over for a traffic stop or arrested for some reason, against a database of fingerprints belonging to high-risk offenders and terror suspects. The system is now available to thousands of state and local police nationwide.
The new Repository for Individuals of Special Concern (RISC) is part of the FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system. RISC has been tested in Texas, Florida and several other states for two years and is now being implemented nationwide, FBI officials said in a statement.
(…) The NGI system compares the fingerprints against a registry of 2.5 million sets of fingerprints of wanted persons, known or "appropriately suspected" terrorists, Sex Offender Registry subjects and others, said Kevin Reid, program manager for NGI.
The database is designed to include individuals who are repeat offenders of the most serious crimes, considered the nation's "worst of the worst," he said.
The automated matching process sends a response to the officer in about 10 seconds, Reid added.
Although many states and communities have deployed mobile devices for fingerprint checks, those devices were only capable of checking local and state databases. RISC uses a national database, which can help identify individuals wanted for serious crimes in other states.
More: FBI deploys fingerprint system for mobile devices — Federal Computer Week.
