Good News From the INS
W A S H I N G T O N, May 4 -- One of the most frustrating facts of life for law enforcement for years has been the incompatibility of agencies' databases with other systems.
One of the worst examples has been the inability of Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors on the border to make use of the FBI's fingerprint database (IAFIS) and criminal information database (NCIC).
INS uses IDENT to track entries and exits of aliens, but because IDENT and IAFIS were incompatible, INS did not have access to criminal records in NCIC. The most notorious example of this occurred during the case of the so-called Railway Killer, who was allowed to cross back into the United States because INS personnel were unaware he was a wanted man.
Integrating IAFIS and IDENT is not a simple proposition; because of the two agencies' separate needs, the systems were originally developed in very different ways. IDENT relies on one fingerprint only; as a biometric identification system, it's simple and quick and allows inspectors to process large numbers of people efficiently.
IAFIS, on the other hand, was developed by the FBI to include latent prints left at crime scenes; thus, it is based on all 10 prints. As Attorney General John Ashcroft told a Senate committee on Thursday, you can't be sure that a criminal will be thoughtful enough at a crime scene to leave a good print of his right index finger.
But Ashcroft revealed that a pilot project at 10 ports to integrate IAFIS and IDENT has been an impressive success. He said in just the first four months of this year, INS was able to use fingerprint checks to nab more than 1,000 aliens wanted by federal, state or local authorities. He listed three examples of such identifications:
Feb. 7: An alien arriving from Colombia, wanted on a warrant by the FBI's Violent Crime Unit in Los Angeles;
Feb. 28: An individual wanted by the LAPD for a triple homicide; and
April 2: A homicide suspect wanted in Harris County, Texas.
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