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FBI Has Improved Its Fingerprint Identification Service

NCJ Number
91588
Date Published
1983
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The FBI's year-long suspension of providing fingerprint identification services for banking institutions and State and local employment and licensing agencies allowed the FBI to reduce its backlog of meeting fingerprint identification requests from agencies it is required to serve and to develop a user fee system.
Abstract
The FBI suspended services to agencies it was not legally required to serve in October 1981 for 1 year. This action was taken to improve processing times on requests for service from other identification system users, primarily criminal justice agencies. During the suspension, the FBI reduced its processing time from about 25 workdays to about 11 workdays; developed a user fee system; and established a fee of $12, which would go into effect when the suspension was lifted. The General Accounting Office found that the justification for suspending services was reasonable and that the user fee adequately represents the FBI's estimated costs to provide the service. Also, the processing time improvement realized during the suspension has continued for all users after the suspension was lifted. An explanation of FBI processing of fingerprint cards is appended. (Author abstract modified)