MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police on Monday launched its digital booking system — called e-Booking — that its chief said will help police match fingerprints faster and help them solve more crimes.
The system, which developed through the police Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, is also meant to "fully digitalize the booking process of arrested persons," Police Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said.
The PNP maintains several databases, including its National Police Clearance System and its Automated Fingerprint Identification System, but these had yet to be integrated, according to a recorded presentation shown at the launch.
While the police have an e-Rogue database that stores the mugshots of people they arrest, fingerprints are recorded manually on cards and stored in filing cabinets, which make the fingerprint records "more prone to wear and tear as the prints often fade with the passage of time," the PNP presentation also said.
The new system "will ensure a full package of database systems that will help in the realization of a higher degree of crime solution efficiency," the presentation also promised.
Implementation of the e-Booking, including issuing police offices biometrics capture equipment, will also help give the police a standard booking process.
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The e-Booking system will be integrated with the police forensic Group's AFIS, which stores records of latent prints collected from crime scenes and with the NPCS, which collects biometric information from citizens seeking police clearances for their job and school applications or for other transactions.
"Easy access to the databases of citizens in the NPCS and of arrested persons in the AFIS will come in handy," the PNP said in its presentation.
At the same flag-raising ceremony, the PNP signed memoranda of agreement with mall operators SM Supermalls and CityMall Commercial Centers, Inc. to put up clearance centers in more SM malls and in all CityMalls.
Azurin said this will allow the public to get their police clearances at a "more convenient time and location."