Technology and Communication

Technology and Communication

The criminal justice system depends on technology to help achieve its expanded and gradually more complex operations. The criminal justice system relies on information, so that the criminal process can move forward. The criminal justice system has to stay ahead of the criminals at all times, so they must establish new ideas each year to stay ahead. Because technology is constantly advancing the way people communicate in the criminal justice system must grow to keep up with the present day actions. The communications know how of specific databases within the criminal justice systems have been affected in a huge way by technology.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol was the first state to introduce the first AFIS system (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) in 1989 to help the efficiency of criminal identification and fingerprint process. AFIS is a highly technical computer system that stores, encodes, and searches images of fingerprints and palm prints. For AFIS to work to the best of its ability the information that is entered into the system must be the highest quality possible. The AFIS database started with a database of 400,000 fingerprints and at the present time is comprised of 2.7 million ten prints, a full set of rolled impressions containing data on all ten fingers, nearly 1.5 million palm print images, and over 60,000 unsolved latent prints. (AFIS history)

The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System is a national fingerprint and criminal history system, which is maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Justice Information Services Division. The IAFIS provides automated fingerprint search capabilities, latent searching capability, electronic image storage, and electronic exchange of fingerprints and responses, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. As a result of submitting fingerprints electronically, agencies receive electronic responses to criminal ten-print fingerprint submissions within two hours and within 24 hours for civil fingerprint submissions. (Police one) The Federal Bureau of Investigation developed a partnership with local law enforcement agencies to create a better fingerprint identification process, which lead to the beginning of IAFIS. This partnership made it possible for law enforcement to identify fugitives while they were still in the law enforcements custody.

IAFIS supports electronic and hard copy submissions of latent fingerprints, which provides the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory with search capabilities to match latent fingerprints in the database.

Law enforcement agencies, fire departments and Emergency Medical Services all need information to respond to emergencies, needed information for their arrival on the scene, and help predict incident trends and patterns. In the past officers on the street would take notes, write reports on paper, and then all information would be stored at police stations. With the introduction of computers officers now submit all information into a database. Along with the computerization that began in the 1980s, a few large agencies began installing specialized mobile data terminals (MDTs) in their patrol vehicles. (911dispatch)

CTS America's mobile computer system, SmartMCT provides full system access through wireless