Fingermatrix Inc, based in North White Plains, New York, has received a Request for Proposal from the US National Crime Information Center for the supply of more than $70m worth of electronic equipment and services to upgrade its criminal information program: Fingermatrix, which claims to have pioneered electronic fingerprinting technology, will propose its patented forensic fingerprint scanners, fingerprint image processing equipment and high-speed matches for the programme, while other companies will provide the central computer system, workstations and other equipment; 60,000 local, state and federal agencies use the NCIC system to record or retrieve information, and the central computer system that manages the database is located at FBI headquarters in Washington; under the NCIC programme, a finger can be electronically scanned by a Fingermatrix MINT II device and a precise digitised version of the print is transmitted instantaneously to headquarters for comparison with those in the database.
