Deployed Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems
The U.S. Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System holds all fingerprint sets collected in the country, and is managed by the FBI. Many states also have their own AFIS. AFISes have capabilities such as latent searching, electronic image storage, and electronic exchange of fingerprints and responses.
Many other entities, including Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Israel, Pakistan, Argentina, Turkey, Morocco, Italy, Chile, Venezuela, Australia, Denmark, the International Criminal Police Organization, and various states, provinces, and local administrative regions have their own systems, which are used for a variety of purposes, including criminal identification, applicant background checks, receipt of benefits, and receipt of credentials (such as passports).
European police agencies are now required by a European council act to open their AFISes to each other to improve the war on terror and the investigation of cross-border crime. The act followed the Pruem treaty, an initiative between the countries Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria. While technically not being an AFIS itself, the Pruem treaty's decentral infrastructure allowes AFIS queries on all European criminal AFIS'es within a reasonable timeframe.
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