AFIS (Portugal)
Type: Law Enforcement
Technical information:
| Full name | |
|---|---|
| Country | Portugal |
| Contents | |
| Images | 26,000 |
| Individuals | 8,700 |
| Runs database software | |
| URL"URL" is a type and predefined property provided by Semantic MediaWiki to represent URI/URL values. | |
| Related Technology |
Developers and Users:
Description[edit | ]
It is most likely that the criminal AFIS will be used for FR in Portugal. The current criminal AFIS (version 3.1) is from Idemia and it is owned by the Forensic Laboratory of Judiciary Police.
Both fingerprints and facial images can be stored in the Portuguese criminal AFIS, but at the present time, only fingerprints can be searched. If there is a need to collect fingerprints, facial images are usually taken as well, and both biometrics are enrolled into the AFIS. The systematic collection of facial images with the frontal view image (in accordance with the ICAO standard) was started at 2016. Around 8700 individuals out of 265 000 people registered in AFIS have facial data included in the database. The total number of facial images stored in AFIS (three types of images per individual) is more than 26 000. Front view images meet the quality requirements necessary for FR work.
Biometric data can be entered into the database for a person who has been arrested on suspicion of having committed a criminal offence but, it can be done only after the court has made a relevant decision. In case o f an acquittal, information will be removed from the database but, in case o f conviction, i t is retained in the database for at least 15 years (depending on the type of crime committed). The second reason for entering biometric data into the database is the need to verify the identity of a person but, in such situations, the data must be removed from the database in 30 days.
The following photographs are taken for each person: frontal face image, right side view of the face, left 3/4 view of the face, full body image, plus images of special marks, scars and tattoos. These images are all taken without glasses. In case the person wears glasses, additional frontal face and full body images with glasses are taken. From all the photographs that are captured, three views (all without glasses) are entered into AFIS — frontal face image, right side view of the face, left 3/4 view of the face. The remaining images will be stored outside of the AFIS database.
Biometric data is collected at police stations all across Portugal, in prisons and in the Forensic Laboratory. Police stations and prisons engaged with the collection of biometry, are usually equipped with the livescan systems for capturing fingerprints and cameras to capture facial and body images. Moreover, data are sometimes collected on paper, i.e. on fingerprint cards. Currently, there are no written instructions in place that regulate how the photographs should be taken. Information obtained during the collection of fingerprints and the capture of facial images by the police and by the prisons is sent to the Forensic Laboratory, where the enrolment of the data into AFIS takes place.
Biometric data is retained in the AFIS together with the reference number of an individual and a criminal case number. All other relevant biographic and criminal case data is stored in the Criminal Investigation Information System. In case the biometric data have been collected multiple times, several sets of fingerprints and facial images per person can be retained in AFIS under the same reference number for the individual.
At the time when FR will be implemented by the Forensic Laboratory, the number of persons working with facial images will need to increase significantly. At the present time, only one fully trained facial expert is engaged with manual 1:1 facial image comparisons and a second person is undergoing training.
Facial images in civil databases that are stored for issuing passports and ID-cards can be used for criminal investigation purposes and are sometimes used for 1:1 comparisons performed by the Forensic Laboratory.1
References
- ^ "Summary Report of the project “Towards the European Level Exchange of Facial Images” (TELEFI)". (2021) <https://www.telefi-project.eu/sites/default/files/TELEFI_SummaryReport.pdf> Accessed: 2021-03-12