Thursday, July 01, 1999
Hamilton police computerize prints
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — It saves time. It helps solve crimes. And the police department's new, computerized fingerprinting system also might help officers detect when suspects give aliases — as in the recent case of a prostitution suspect who falsely gave her sister's name.
“If their fingerprints are on file, we will know if they give us the wrong name,” said Officer Don Taylor, police spokesman.
Last month, Julia Ann Bradshaw told police her name was Sandra Lee Ledger. Although Ms. Bradshaw had been arrested several years earlier by Hamilton police, officers said they had no efficient way to cross-check her fingerprints with the name she provided.
The new system will enable police to do just that, as long as a suspect's fingerprints have been taken and stored previously, Officer Taylor said. Also, when unidentified fingerprints are found at a crime scene, police can use the computer to try to find a match. The computers can rapidly compare thousands, even millions of prints, which skilled fingerprint examiners would have to painstakingly compare one by one.
“It's a tremendous asset,” said Officer Dave Crawford. ""It's going to be instantaneous — and it's inkless.”
As suspects are booked into the local jail, their fingertips are pressed against a piece of glass, and the computer captures and stores their images. Those prints then can be quickly compared with those on file with other police agencies.
With the old “ink-and-roll” method, the process took nearly 30 minutes because officers had to make five copies for various agencies, and sometimes suspects made fingerprinting difficult. Now the process takes only about eight to 10 minutes, said Sgt. Dan Pratt. He put together the application for the federal grant that enabled the department to buy the $75,000 device. The grant provided $58,500; the remainder came from city funds.
A number of police agencies in the Tristate either already use the devices or are approved to receive one. They include police in Cincinnati, Middletown, Fairfield and Springdale, and the Hamilton, Butler and Clermont county sheriffs' offices.
Some of the agencies are linked to the 12 million-fingerprint database of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. Hamilton is expecting to establish that link within the next month, Sgt. Pratt said.
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