Selected aspects of the functioning of fingerprint data sets. Creation of an elimination database for a set that automatically processes fingerprint data

Abstract

Nearly 130 years after the first described case of identyfying a person based on a fingerprint trace, in the era of database systems and international data exchange taking place in real time, twenty years since the introduction of AFIS in Poland – a set that automatically processes fingerprint data, when it would seem that everything has been said and written about fingerprinting, an elimination set is being created, which collects fingerprints and cheek mucosa swabs from police officers and employees. The new regulations open a discussion in which the arguments run in many directions, from allegations of too far-reaching interference in the personal sphere of officers, to the collection and processing of DNA profiles and fingerprint data, to the costs of creating an elimination set. So what are fingerprint collections and AFIS, how do they function and what influences their effectiveness in achieving detection and identification purposes in criminal cases? This area of fingerprinting used by law enforcement agencies in combating and preventing crime is the subject of the analysis of this article.