Police officers gain access to an app that allows them to compare fingerprints found at a crime scene with the traces in HAVANK. This speeds up the process by two thousand percent.
HAVANK
The Dutch police have been working with HAVANK since 1989, which stands for The Automatic Fingerprint System Dutch Collection. This system contains the fingerprints of approximately one and a half million suspects and convicts. These are fingerprints of suspects of a crime who are on pre-trial detention or who refuse to identify themselves. About 150,000 fingerprints are added every year.
The police reports now that the software and hardware of HAVANK have been completely renewed. Thanks to the innovations, the police should be able to make a solid trace comparison with less material.
According to John Riemen, content expert on behalf of the police, the system now works much more accurately: “So with less clear traces we can find someone and with the same material we are more likely to find someone.” This is especially useful for cold cases. The secured tracks are often incomplete or of poor quality. New research may lead to a hitherto unknown person.
App to analyze fingerprints
Not only has the police fingerprinting system become more accurate, the speed at which traces are processed has also increased significantly. To this end, a new app will be introduced that will allow the police to directly compare fingerprints found with the traces in HAVANK. Previously, it often took more than a week to compare the fingerprints.
Riemen: “Due to all kinds of administrative and logistical processes, it often took more than a week before a dacty track was processed. Now the forensic officers can photograph the trail and dispatch it immediately. This speeds up the process by two thousand percent. Experts can also remotely monitor and provide quality indications while the PD is still open. That improves the quality of the secured tracks and the chance of a match.”
Privacy of great importance
In addition, the Dutch fingerprint database and that of the United States will be linked together. And the United Kingdom has also applied for a link. There is currently already cooperation with twenty EU countries. According to Riemen, guaranteeing privacy is of great importance when so many files are linked: “HAVANK only helps with searching large amounts of data and makes a selection of those anonymous fingerprints that may match. and the expert determines whether there is a possible match. Then, two other experts analyze the track completely, then perform a comparison with the reference print and draw a conclusion. That is a very careful process.” Fingerprints of people who are no longer suspects are eventually erased.
– Thanks for information from Androidworld. Source