Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 20, 2014 News
by Michael Jordan
With help from the FBI, and equipment straight out of the popular ‘CSI’ television series, local police say they have begun to crack a number of unsolved cases, ranging from burglary to at least one murder.
The equipment that is helping to bring Guyana out of the stone age period of crime fighting is the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS); a computer system that helps investigators to swiftly match fingerprints of suspects to existing fingerprints that are stored in a large database.
Kaieteur News understands that the equipment was acquired last November through a US and Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. Personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been training local Crime Scene technicians in its use. The training course ended yesterday.
Computers and scanners to collect fingerprint data have been installed at the New Amsterdam, Brickdam and Cove and John Police Stations. All data is sent to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, where some of the FBI-trained personnel check the prints for possible matches to suspects.
Prior to acquiring the automated fingerprint identification system, local investigators were forced to examine hundreds of prints with a magnifying glass to find a possible match to a suspect. This process could take days or even months, without always yielding the desired results.
“We would start with the ‘hot file’ of known suspects …sometimes with thousands of prints. This (new) process eliminates all this time,” an official said.
AFIS compares fingerprints to those on file and a computer produces a list of possible matches within minutes. Fingerprints taken from an arrested individual can be used to swiftly verify his identity and ascertain whether he may be wanted for any criminal offence.
The system can also be used to identify deceased persons.
And gone now, too, are the days of filing fingerprints by pressing thumbs and palms into an ink-pad. The automated fingerprint identification system enables investigators to record prints with an electronic light scan and stores them in the AFIS database.
The local technicians have spent the past few months scanning prints of individuals with criminal backgrounds, as well as mug shots, and storing this information into this database.
When a print taken from a crime scene appears to match one from the database, a red flag, and the word ‘Hit’ appears on a computer screen monitored at CID Headquarters, Eve Leary.
A top police official confirmed that the new technology has already assisted investigators to bring closure to some unsolved cases. Ironically, one case concerned the theft, a few months ago, of components of the same Automated Fingerprint Identification System now in use. The theft occurred at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and at least one suspect is before the courts.
Kaieteur News was told that the investigators have also used the new technology to identify suspects in a string of recent burglaries.
The fingerprinting system has also helped detectives to link an individual to a brutal unsolved murder which occurred two years ago. However, police are still to locate the suspect.
According to a source, St. Kitts, which is among some Caribbean nations that lately acquired the same technology, recently sought assistance from Guyana to locate an individual suspected to be hiding here.
Kaieteur News was told that the local database is already linked to similar databases in the Caribbean.
The Guyana government acquired the technology through the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) as part of a US-funded project.
According to a December, 2012 statement from the US Embassy, the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative forms an essential part of Hemispheric U.S. security strategy focused on citizen safety.
CBSI brings all members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Dominican Republic, and the United States together to collaborate as partners on regional security. The United States has committed $203 million in funding for the first three years of the initiative.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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