Civil ABIS is also useful as an identity-proofing measure toward benefits-fraud prevention. For instance, a civil ABIS can be used to ensure that a visa applicant is not in a criminal database. These biometrics can also be submitted for search law enforcement systems. Use cases for civil ABIS generally involve the voluntary submission of biometrics as part of an enrollment process. Civil ABISĪ civil ABIS is not used for criminal investigation, and so the ability to submit latent fingerprints or video surveillance footage for search is not included. In an investigation, they can use examiner workstation applications to prepare biometric information for search and to help interpret and refine results. “mug shots.” Law enforcement agencies enroll biometric data from criminal suspects as part of a booking process. Nowadays, video surveillance can also be collected for comparison against existing facial image samples, e.g. The key differentiating feature of a criminal ABIS is its ability to process and analyze latent fingerprints (those left behind at a crime scene) and compare them against an existing database of fingerprint samples. Today, there are two primary types of ABIS used in the public sector: Criminal ABIS While ABIS technology was initially developed for law enforcement applications, their uses have broadened considerably beyond law enforcement and even beyond government. By 2005, DoD had made IAFIS and ABIS interoperable to consolidate and simplify one-to-many biometric searches. In 2004, the Department of Defense implemented the first ABIS to track and identify national security threats. Roughly 18,000 local, state, tribal, federal, and international partners now access IAFIS. Modalities extend beyond fingerprints to face and iris.ĪFIS became IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) in 1999 when the system was enabled with the ability to be searched by organizations outside the FBI. An ABIS performs that same function as an AFIS but can search using multiple types of biometrics. “AFIS” – and “ABIS” – are now used as more general descriptors rather than a single system. The earliest example of an ABIS is the “Automated Fingerprint Identification System” (AFIS). Biometric searches using latents can be used to place the same individual at two different crime scenes, even if that person’s identity is unknown. Creating a new template for that latent print makes it possible to match fingerprints from different crime scenes and future enrollments. Technically, a biometric template can also be created for an unknown individual – for example, in criminal investigations where investigators lift a fingerprint from a crime scene. Alternatively, it can be collected as a latent sample in a forensic investigation.īiometric templates in a gallery are the samples collected during law enforcement bookings, or registered as part of a civil enrollment process. The probe sample used in the search can be collected with an individual’s knowledge by way of a fingerprint scan, photograph or mugshot, or iris scan in an arrest booking or as part of a voluntary enrollment process. A biometric search uses algorithms that compare the physical characteristics in a probe sample to the characteristics in existing templates. This makes it possible to associate biometric identifiers with a single person.
How ABIS worksĪn ABIS compares biometric identifiers such as a fingerprint, face, or iris belonging to an individual to existing samples, also known as biometric templates, in a biometric database.Įach person’s fingerprint, face, and iris has unique characteristics.
An example of biometric verification is using facial recognition to unlock a smartphone. Biometric identification answers the question “Who are you?” Biometric verification answers the question, “Are you really you?”.Īn example of biometric identification is searching a biometric database using a newly taken mugshot during a police booking to see if that individual is already registered. It enables matching of a live sample against many existing biometric templates to find a record of a particular individual and verify his or her identity.īiometric identification is not the same as the one-to-one verification – one biometric template, one user sample – used in authentication models. This process is known as biometric identification. An ABIS is a type of biometric search system that performs a one-to-many comparison of a “probe” sample to samples in a database containing many biometric templates. An automated biometric identification system, or ABIS, is used for large-scale biometric identification and deduplication.