Achieving Interoperability for Latent Fingerprint Identification

In The United States

Tania Simoncelli and Laura GerhardtOffice of Science and Technology Policy

Executive Office of the President

REPORT BACKGROUND

The place of science in the White House…

President

OSTP

Office of Management & Budget (OMB)

National Security Council (NSC)Council on

Environmental Quality

(CEQ)

National Economic Council (NEC)

Domestic Policy

Council (DPC)

EOP also includes Offices of: Vice President, Chief of Staff, Cabinet Affairs, Communications, Intergovernmental Relations, Public Engagement, Social Secretary, US Trade Representative, Energy & Climate Change, and more.

Council of Economic Advisors (CEA)

…is centered in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)

OSTP: two major responsibilitiesScience and technology for policy

Independent and objective advice for the President about S&T germane to all policy issues with which he is concerned

Policy for science and technologyAnalysis, recommendations, and coordination (in concert with other elements of the Executive Office of the President) on R&D budgets and related policies; S&T education and workforce issues, interagency S&T initiatives, scientific integrity, …

Advisory BodiesPresident's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)

OSTP: National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Forensic Science–Assessed practical challenges and opportunities for implementing the

2009 NRC recommendations–Activities coordinated through 5 interagency working groups

• nearly 200 participants

• 23 Federal departments and agencies

• state and local government partners–Work Products

• Series of white papers summarizing work of the subcommittees (May 2014)

• Discipline-specific annotated bibliographies (currently under review by AAAS)

• AFIS interoperability report (October 2014)

5

2009 NRC Report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward (Recommendation 12)

•USG should launch a new “broad-based effort to achieve nationwide fingerprint data interoperability.”

Subcommittee on Forensic Science:AFIS Interoperability Task Force

•Goal: To coordinate the development and execution of a strategic plan to enhance AFIS interoperability in the United States.

Task Force Activities

• Determine current state of latent fingerprint interoperability–National Institute of Justice Latent Fingerprint Interoperability Survey

• Identify and assess challenges to achieving true latent fingerprint interoperability.

• Coordinate Federal efforts and leverage them for State and local law enforcement agencies.

• Make recommendations to OSTP through the Subcommittee on Forensic Science (SoFS).

Achieving Interoperability For Latent Fingerprint IdentificationIn The United States evolved out of the work of the Task Force.

KEY CONCEPTS

Use of Fingerprints in InvestigationsTen-prints contain fingerprint images of up to ten fingers captured by law enforcement, or private entities in a controlled environment.

Latent prints are fingerprints left by an unknown source and include those recovered from a crime scene or other item of evidence.

Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)• Use image-recognition algorithms to

generate a list of potential candidates that share similar fingerprint features to a submitted image.

• 10-print searches– Fully automated– Interoperability not a major concern

• Latent print searches– Fingerprint examiners manually

encode (“markup”) an image to indicate the locations of minutiae on a digital image of the print.

– Different AFIS software vendors have created different encoding methods and algorithms.

– This has created challenges for interoperability.

AFIS Work Station

EncodedLatent Fingerprint

Source: Screenshot from NIST EFS Training Tool

Minutiae Encoding Differences

System A System B

Defining Interoperability

“Interoperability” is the ability of two or more networks, systems, devices, applications, or components to work

seamlessly and electronically without any special effort to share information on demand, when needed, and as authorized

without loss of accuracy using standardized encoding.

“Enter Once, Search Many”

Benefits of AFIS Interoperability•Allows law enforcement agencies to search sets of

fingerprint records beyond those within their own jurisdiction

•Greater number of identifications • Improved examiner efficiency and effectiveness

–Uniform encoding practices–Reduced need to re-encode–Standardized training–Standardized annotation techniques for identification data

REPORT FINDINGS

Current AFIS sharing environment

Local

State

National FBI NGI

State “A”AFIS

Local “W” AFIS

Local “X”AFIS

State “B”AFIS

Local “Y” AFIS

Local “Z” AFIS

IDENTABIS

Interoperability among Federal agenciesFBI Next

Generation Identification (NGI)

DHS and DHS Automated Biometric

Identification System (IDENT)

DoD Automated Biometric

Identification System (ABIS)

Tran

slatio

n So

ftwar

e

DHS Re-encode ULW

Current AFIS sharing environment

Local

State

National FBI NGI

State “A”AFIS

Local “W” AFIS

Local “X”AFIS

State “B”AFIS

Local “Y” AFIS

Local “Z” AFIS

IDENTABIS

Current AFIS sharing environment

Local

State

National FBI NGI

State “A”AFIS

Local “W” AFIS

Local “X”AFIS

State “B”AFIS

Local “Y” AFIS

Local “Z” AFIS

IDENTABIS

AFIS interoperable environment

Local

State

National FBI NGI

State “A”AFIS

Local “W” AFIS

Local “X”AFIS

State “B”AFIS

Local “Y” AFIS

Local “Z” AFIS

IDENTABIS

Requirements for AFIS Interoperability

• Technical Compatibility

• Network Connectivity

• Proper Governance

• Performance Testing and Training

• Education and Outreach

Technical Compatibility

Extended Feature Set (EFS)

• Feature Definition:– Cores– Deltas– Center point of

reference– Dots– Ridge Path

Latent Interoperability Transmission Specification (LITS)

LITS Required Profiles Latent Image-Only Search

The image is properly cropped and submitted without markup or annotations.

Quick Minutiae Search

The latent print examiner must mark region of interest, minutiae, cores, deltas, pattern, and orientation.

LITS Optional Profiles Detailed Markup Profile

Ridge Flow Map is one of the features included as part of the detailed profile.

Technical CompatibilityRecent Progress:• Technical Compatibility has been mostly achieved through standards

development:–Extended Feature Set (EFS) – standard for minutiae definitions– Latent Interoperability Transmission Standard (LITS) – what is required to

send a latent print across systems from different vendors• Main challenge: standards implementation

Recommendations:• Achieve Federal LITS Compliance within 3 years• Support standards compliant acquisition and upgrades for State & local law

enforcement agencies• Continuously improve the standards through review and development of

conformance test protocols

Technical Compatibility Network Connectivity Proper Governance Performance Testing and Training Education and Outreach

Network ConnectivityRecent Progress:• State to FBI connectivity achieved through CJIS-WAN• FBI CJIS to begin to channel latent searches through State law

enforcement agencies by discontinuing direct latent connectivity services for local law enforcement agencies to FBI

Recommendations:• Expand CJIS-WAN to permit State-to-State connectivity• Provide technical assistance to improve local-to-State and local-to-

local connectivity

Technical Compatibility Network Connectivity Proper Governance Performance Testing and Training Education and Outreach

Proper GovernanceRecent Progress:• NIST has developed guidance on how to develop Memoranda of

Understanding• NIST has released an MOU template to facilitate interagency

agreements

Recommendations:• Develop strategies to coordinate the development of interstate local

AFIS governance agreements.• Promote existing resources on interagency agreements.• Conduct analysis of State and Federal privacy laws and policies that

impact fingerprint sharing across jurisdictions and identify opportunities coordinate the development of joint policies.

Technical Compatibility Network Connectivity Proper Governance Performance Testing and Training Education and Outreach

Performance Testing and TrainingRecent Progress:NIST has developed an EFS online training tool as an interactive guide to latent fingerprint markup. (www.nist.gov/forensics/EFSTrainingTool)

Recommendations:• Support training activities of LITS-compliant systems • Develop performance tests to assess the matching accuracy of

natively versus remotely encoded prints.• Develop and make available an automated tool to aggregate

candidate lists from multiple searches in one or more systems that could lead to improvements in efficacy and accuracy.

Technical Compatibility Network Connectivity Proper Governance Performance Testing and Training Education and Outreach

Education and OutreachRecent Progress:• National Institute of Justice Latent Fingerprint Interoperability

Survey

Recommendations• Expand efforts to evaluate LITS and EBTS implementation and

translate technical specifications into practice.• Interagency communication and coordination important for

promoting AFIS interoperability standards among Federal, State and local authorities.

Technical Compatibility Network Connectivity Proper Governance Performance Testing and Training Education and Outreach

Acknowledgments

• Melissa Taylor• Lauren Reed • Robin Jones• Terry Green• Mark Greene• Lisa Vincent• Michelle Meder• Anne May• Michael Garris

• Jo Handelsman• Martin Herman• Wesley Grose• John Clark• Charles Schaeffer• Michael Lesko• Randy Hanzlick• Leo Norton• Mark Zabinski

• Mark Stolorow• Kenneth Blue• Joe Polski• George Kiebuzinski• Peter Komarinski• Rachel Wallner• Austin Hicklin• John Mayer-Splain.

Draft Report Available at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/library

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