The new mexico department of public safety, together with the city of albuquerque, the albuquerque police department(APD), and the albuquerque city clerk's office propose to use nchip funding for a…

The New Mexico Department of Public Safety (NMDPS), along with the City of Albuquerque, Albuquerque Police Department (APD), and Albuquerque City Clerk's Office, received a $2,224,200 Cooperative Agreement award from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (CFDA 16.554 - National Criminal History Improvement Program) to digitize approximately 400,000 paper records, including fingerprint cards and mugshots, and upgrade the APD's Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) software platform. The project aims to improve the accuracy, utility, and interstate accessibility of criminal history and related records in support of national record systems and their use for name- and fingerprint-based criminal history background checks. The award has a performance period from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2026.

The new mexico department of public safety, together with the city of albuquerque, the albuquerque police department(APD), and the albuquerque city clerk's office propose to use nchip funding for a dual initiative composed of a paper records digitization project in addition to an automated fingerprint identification software (AFIS) software platform upgrade. The AFIS upgrade will improve state and local access to critical data; will increase state and local record keeping accuracy; and will improve the accuracy, utility, and interstate accessibility of criminal history and related records in support of national record systems and their use for name- and fingerprint-based criminal history background checks. The records scanning work of the 2024 nchip records digitization and software upgrade project will include digitization of all paper records of living persons that were recorded manually prior to apds implementation of digital fingerprint scanning in march 2006. These paper records are composed of roughly 400,000 fingerprint cards, MUG shots, and other paper items. The original APD AFIS software platform was created in 2006. Since that time, significant technological innovations have occurred within the software design field to speed response times and improve general processing of data. After implementation of the AFIS software platform upgrade, APD will gain the capacity to submit an increased amount of data to state and national databases and will be able to access previously inaccessible information while running firearm background checks. Additionally, implementation of the 2024 nchip initiative will expand the known records available when comparing ridge detail evidence from crime scenes to local, state, and national databases.