NBI eyes fingerprint database

The National Bureau of Investigation is going high-tech in its daily battle against crime.

Following the launch of its first on-line clearance renewal kiosk at the Glorieta Mall in Makati City, the NBI is setting its sights on a computerized fingerprint database system.

But NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said the ambitious project would cost the bureau P650 million.

Wycoco said that once the Automated Fringerprint Identification System (AFIS)) is in place, access to the bureau’s 21 million sets of fingerprints on file, including 750,000 with criminal records, would be easily made possible.

"With the computerized system, we can easily identify the suspect after fingerprints are lifted from the crime scene," Wycoco said.

Meanwhile, the NBI is confident that once on-line clearance renewal at kiosks are put-up in various malls, the number of applicants visiting the NBI headquarters to request for clearance renewals will be decreased as clearance applications can be done on-line.

The kiosks are connected to the bureau’s clearance database. A clearance can be renewed in minutes, given that the applicant has no namesakes in the database. And as the kiosk is connected to the central NBI terminal, anyone with an arrest warrant or a pending case will be detected.

Five kiosks were originally planned to be set-up by the NBI in Metro Manila. The kiosks will be set-up inside shopping malls and other frequented public places. Aside from Makati, kiosks will also be installed in Caloocan, Manila, Quezon City and in the eastern portion of the Metropolis.

Ruben Solitario, head of NBI’s technical services division, said the modernization of the clearance process has so far slashed by half the number of applicants visiting the NBI headquarters.

Solitario said the NBI used to accommodate up to 24,000 applicants a day. Of the figure, 12,000 are application for clearance renewals. – Mike Frialde