DHS and FBI Meld Fingerprint Databases

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have merged their databases of fingerprints of millions of criminals and illegal immigrants in what one publication is calling an “unprecedented inter-agency effort to catch more terrorists and solve more crimes.”

According to the State.com website, law enforcement officials have worried since 9/11 terrorists could “escape detection because the federal government’s numerous criminal and immigration databases were not interconnected.” Officials told the publication this new link will help close that gap.

With the new link, airport inspectors and border agents can access more information in the FBI’s database, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, known as IAFIS.

“The system, which the FBI bills as the world’s largest biometric database, allows law enforcement officials to search the fingerprints and criminal history information of more than 47 million people,” the publication says.