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To: steve who wrote (25698)	3/27/2004 5:29:12 PM
From: steve	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26039

Finding fingerprints at their fingertips GPD's new machine allows forensics specialists to enter finger, palm prints into county database By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Criminals who believe their palms are safe from police should beware — the Glendale Police Department has the newest technology in integrated fingerprint and palm identification. With the click of a mouse, a fingerprint could bring as many as 50 possible matches in less than four minutes with Glendale Police's new finger and palm print identification system. The new Los Angeles Automated Fingerprint Identification System terminal in Glendale Police's forensics lab has the ability to search, compare and identify fingerprints and palm prints lifted from crime scenes. The county's 26 terminals were activated in November and compare each fingerprint and palm entry with 36 million entries already in the system. "We kept missing out with all the palm prints we were lifting," Forensics Specialist Renee Freeman said. Glendale Police forensics specialists can also access the system at any time because it is in the department's forensics lab, in the station's basement. Specialists who wanted to enter fingerprints lifted from a crime scene once had to drive to the Pasadena Police station to use its terminal. The computerized entry and search is a far cry from what local specialists had to do in the past, Forensics Supervisor Debbie Stivers said. "We used to have to photograph the prints, blow it up four times, and trace it," she said. "Then we would reduce the trace, then scan the tracing into the system." The database's capabilities are beneficial for the department's investigators, field operations and custody operations, Stivers said. Investigators can immediately identify potential third-strike offenders, suspects in cold cases and clear case backlogs. Field operations can do an automatic check of warrants based on suspects' fingerprints and immediately pull up a suspect's background. Jailers can use the system to identify repeat offenders, better classify inmates and reduce the chances of mistakenly releasing an inmate. "The good thing about it is that you can go back and call an investigator who's been working day and night and say, 'Hey, we've got a suspect for you,' " Stivers said. The terminal is on loan from the county, with the stipulation that other agencies would be allowed to use the computer from the Glendale Police station. latimes.com steve