Fingerprints don't lie with jail's new system
By: JACQUE STEUBBEL, Staff Writer March 12, 2004
An Automated Fingerprint Identification System providing almost instant identification of an individual, even if they are using another name or alias, is now in regular use at the Giles County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff Eddie Bass said the system also transmits current charges instantly to both the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"It is state-of-the-art," Bass said. "The system provides the arresting officer with a printed copy of the offender's criminal history. It can also alert the jail if the person is wanted in another location."
Total cost of the machine was $33,110 with a federal grant reimbursing $24,833. The balance was paid by city and county agencies using money set aside for the project in each agency's drug fund.
The Giles County Sheriff's Department and Pulaski Police Department each provided $2,639. The Ardmore, Elkton, Lynnville and Minor Hill police departments each contributed $750 toward purchase of the AFIS.
"It gives law enforcement just a little more leeway to hold somebody," said Lt. Tommy Chapman, who has worked with the Sheriff's Department since 1992.
Chapman said the machine is keyed to the FBI's computerized database known as the National Crime Information Center.
"It doesn't rely on names, just prints," Chapman said, adding that fingerprints are unique to each individual.
Future technologies are here now, he said and involve biometric scans, such as the retina. Another type of AFIS system, he said, will do a palm scan.
Chapman said the AFIS was purchased from Cross Match Technologies and is currently up and running in the booking room at the Giles County Jail.
"It makes our work a lot easier and far more accurate," Chapman said, adding, the fingerprint tells it all.
"This technology also keeps our citizens safer because we can know almost instantly who has been apprehended despite the name they might give us."
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