NEC's automatic fingerprint identification system contributes to criminal investigations in China

NEC Corp has announced a series of accomplishments related to the deployment of its automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) in China's Anhui Province.

In March 2011, the province's Public Safety Authority launched a large-scale NEC AFIS in order to assist with criminal investigations. Since then, the suspect detection (hit) rate on latent fingerprint inquiries has increased by more than 10 times the usual rate.

The NEC AFIS system in Anhui Province is the largest of its kind in China. The system consists of 2,300 units that have produced a database of more than 11 million registered fingerprints taken from arrested suspects and crime scenes. On average, only about 30 seconds are required to identify a single fingerprint. This high-speed, high-precision system also boasts a wide range of scalability that can accommodate a database of up to 50 million fingerprints. As a result, the system is well suited for assisting in the investigation of crimes on both the local and national levels.

In March 2012, Anhui Province secured the number one position by a large margin in an annual study conducted by Public Safety Authority that seeks to identify latent fingerprints from unresolved cases spanning the entire country. The number of hits in Anhui Province was more than 1.5 times the number of an average year and the system's reliability was further verified by its superior hit rate when compared to other provinces for major crimes such as homicide.

NEC's AFIS are globally deployed in more than 30 countries in support of law enforcement, national ID systems, immigration offices and others.

© Japan Today