Five Key Services

The five key Next Generation Identification (NGI) services are:

1: Ten-Print-Based Fingerprint Identification Services

A ten-print fingerprint submission contains 10 rolled fingerprint impressions and corresponding flat fingerprint impressions.

Criminal Ten-Print Fingerprint Submission: Fingerprints are acquired as a result of an arrest at the city, county, state, or federal level. The fingerprints are processed locally and then electronically forwarded to a state or federal agency system for processing. The fingerprints are then sent through the CJIS Wide Area Network to NGI for processing. Mailed ten-print fingerprint cards are converted to an electronic format in the NGI environment.

Civil Ten-Print Fingerprint Submission: Fingerprints are acquired for background checks for employment, licensing, or other non-criminal justice purposes where authorized by federal and state law and in compliance with appropriate regulations. To determine what occupations are authorized within your state, contact your state police or your state criminal history repository. Like criminal fingerprints, civil fingerprints are processed by local, state, or federal agencies prior to being submitted to NGI for processing.

For information regarding taking legible fingerprints for ten-print fingerprint submissions, see “Taking Legible Fingerprints.

2: Latent Fingerprint Services

NGI supports both electronic and hard copy submissions of latent fingerprints. It provides the FBI Laboratory with enhanced search capabilities using databases specially designed for matching latent fingerprints. Latent fingerprint specialists return decisions to the requestor and add any unidentified latent fingerprints and their features to the unsolved latent fingerprint file.

3: Subject Search and Criminal History Services

The Interstate Identification Index (III) segment of NGI is the national system designed to provide automated criminal history record information. The Interstate Identification Index stores the criminal history record information of federal offenders and those offenders established by participating and non-participating III states. Each record is created through the submission of fingerprint images to NGI. The participating states establish and update records within the Interstate Identification Index through the submission of first and subsequent fingerprint images of arrested subjects. Once these records are established, the participating states provide requested criminal history records when an electronic inquiry for a state-maintained record is processed by the system.

States in the final stage of the Interstate Identification Index as National Fingerprint File (NFF) participants submit only the first arrest fingerprint images of a subject to establish a pointer record within the index segment. Any subsequent activity related to this NFF pointer record will be the sole responsibility of the NFF participating state. If a direct terminal inquiry or an NGI fingerprint inquiry identifies a person with a criminal history in one or more NFF participating states, a criminal history request is forwarded to the participating NFF state’s criminal history system for the appropriate response.

4: Document and Imaging ServicesDocument Services:

NGI processes documents associated with criminal history records received in electronic, hard copy, or machine-readable data formats. These documents include arrest dispositions, expungements, and other miscellaneous updates. For more information on criminal history document submission, see Arrest Disposition Submission.

Fingerprint Image Services: NGI supplies electronic images of fingerprints to authorized agencies upon request. See the Electronic Fingerprint Transmission Specification (EFTS), Section 3.6-3.7 for more information.

Photo Services: NGI has the capability to accept, store, and distribute photos. See the EFTS, Appendix K for information regarding photo submission and Section 3.10 for photo retrieval.

5: Remote Ten-Print and Latent Fingerprint Search Services

NGI supports remote ten-print and latent fingerprint searches by law enforcement agencies. The results of remote ten-print and latent searches are returned electronically and include a list of potential matching candidates and corresponding fingerprints for comparison and identification by the requesting agency.

The FBI will provide the following remote search software packages to criminal justice agencies upon request, free of charge.

Remote Fingerprint Editing Software (RFES): This complete software package performs remote searches of NGI. RFES supports remote NGI transactions, including images and feature-based searches for both ten-print and latent fingerprints. RFES editing and human interface were developed based on use and advice of both local law enforcement and FBI latent fingerprint specialists. See additional information regarding RFES (pdf).

Universal Latent Workstation (ULW) Software: This latent software package performs remote latent searches of NGI. See additional information regarding ULW.