Being able to identify one person from many is central to police investigation.  Technology enables authorities to do this faster and more accurately than ever before.  The creation of a national database gives UK Police greater power to identify people involved in cross border crimes.   In addition, the Service has benefited from the creation of a serious crime section.  All tenprints submitted are automatically searched against the unidentified marks held in the serious crime area.

As part of the government's biometrics programme, the UK Border Agency along with NPIA has jointly developed and implemented improvements in the processing of UK visa applications.  Since April 2008, UK visa applications collected from visa processing posts worldwide, are submitted to an automated IDENT1 interface for possible identification.  It is expected that up to 8,500 visa applications per day will be presented for matching.

As of October 2008 the database held:

• 7.8 million individuals' ten-prints
• 16.6 million sets of ten-prints
• 1.75 million unidentified marks
• 5.9 million palm prints
• 115,000 palm marks
• 4300 serious crime marks
• 45,500 scenes of crime identifications over the last 6 months

 

How does it work?

Every person arrested in England, Scotland and Wales for a recordable offence has their fingerprints, palm prints and limited nominal data taken and entered onto the database.  DNA and mug-shot photographs are also obtained.  This data is synchronised with the "arrest record" on the Police National Computer (PNC) or on the Scottish Criminal History System (CHS).  In England and Wales print images are only removed in special circumstances, but Scotland removes records on acquittal.

The technology includes an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) search engine and two principal databases, one contains the national fingerprint (tenprint) database with over 7.6 million identity records and a second holding unidentified crime scene marks.   

The system also retains and searches approximately 5.9 million palm print sets, with 140,000 tenprints (with palms) submitted monthly, providing for a monthly database growth of about 36,000.

The IDENT1 system identifies some 90,000 scenes of crime marks each year.  Together with PNC, it is recognised to be part of the vital national infrastructure for policing.

Enhancements to the technology are still being developed and delivered, employing the use of cutting-edge technology, such as the 443 Livescan units situated within police custody suites and of 200 Lantern hand held fingerprint identification devices.

IDENT1 is a managed service provided by Northrop Grumman Information Technology (NG).  They have designed, developed and managed this environment, under the guidance and supervision of NPIA, to requirements specified by the police service and are contracted to do so until 2013.

Benefits

The key benefits to Police Forces in England, Scotland and Wales include:

• Palm searching and matching
• The integration of finger and palm prints from Scotland
• Improved searching facilities
• A new strategic platform - improve identification capabilities in the future with links to criminal justice and public safety agencies.
  

Next steps

The next  steps for IDENT1 for 2009-10 include:

• Implementation of the IDENT1 enhancements
• Management of IDENT1 services to the UK Border Agency
• Ongoing work with the Police Services to identify further identification business  requirements to support effective policing and decision-making; and
• Ongoing work with the government's biometrics programme to identify mechanisms to further support  Identification where required.