Dutch police gets app to compare fingerprints with database

The Dutch police will receive a telephone app with which traces found at a crime scene can be immediately compared with the Havank database. It used to take a week before that comparison could be made.

Of the app forensic detectives can photograph fingerprints and compare them directly with the Havank database. The database contains the fingerprints of 1.5 million suspects who have been suspected of a serious crime or who refused to identify themselves. Experts can also remotely watch the fingerprints that the detectives record and give instructions. “This improves the quality of the secured traces and the chance of a match,” the police write.

The app is part of an innovation from Havank. Havank stands for The Automatic Fingerprinting System Dutch Collection and has been used by the police since 1989. He says that he has completely renewed Havank’s software and hardware. With the system, the police can still make a solid trace comparison with less material. In addition, the new system is more accurate.

The new Havank system, called Havank 4, contains the fingerprints of about one and a half million suspects and convicts. About 150,000 fingerprints are entered and checked annually, of which forty percent are new to Havank. Every year, eight thousand fingerprints at crime scenes are compared to the fingerprints in Havank. In twenty to twenty-five percent, the person whose fingerprints belong to is actually found.

If that person is not in Havank, the police can search the databases of twenty EU countries. “Soon” the US should join them. This collaboration was announced in 2018. The police emphasizes that privacy is important with fingerprints. For example, fingerprints of people who are no longer suspects are erased. In addition, three experts look at fingerprints before drawing conclusions, the police write.