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Cogent Systems delivers the World’s most Advanced Automated Palmprint and Fingerprint identification System to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.
Dateline-South Pasadena, CA -November 14, 2003. Cogent Systems has delivered a new generation of crime fighting identification technology that can identify criminals when arrested and from crime scenes using both finger and palmprints. LAFIS, the Los Angeles County Regional Identification System (LACRIS) is led by the LA County Sheriff’s Department, LAPD and LBPD and is a cooperative effort including all 47 law enforcement agencies throughout the County. The system is also fully integrated with both County and State and National criminal justice information systems making it much more difficult for criminals to avoid being apprehended for crimes.
Featuring Cogent’s unique biometric matching engines, the Programmable Matching Accelerator (PMA), LAFIS can identify suspects at booking stations throughout the County in minutes and determine if there are any outstanding warrants while the suspect is in custody. The system can also search the County’s database to identify finger or palmprints left at crime scenes. Users of Cogent System’s integrated palmprint systems report that by being able to search palmprints, the number of crime scene identifications is increased by over 30%. With Cogent’s integrated finger and palmprint identification capabilities, LAFIS provides the County’s law enforcement agencies crime fighting tools unavailable to most other agencies at the local, state and national levels.
LAFIS, utilizing Cogent’s advanced biometric matching algorithms and the worlds first 1000 ppi print resolution database, coupled with Cogent’s high speed 100% database search penetration and multiple subject records capability, creates the fastest, most accurate and most advanced palm and fingerprint Identification system in the nation. The current entire 4,000,000+ subject database can be searched and matching “hits” identified in 15 - 30 seconds.
In an address to the Cogent Systems 6th Annual International User Group Conference on October 27, Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy D. Baca said ” LAFIS is the most accurate system in the industry at 99.9% compared to the industry average of 94%. In initial training we were able to identify over 50 latents that included finger and palmprints."
Acting Lieutenant Larry Bryant of the LA Sheriffs Department, in charge of the LAFIS system has said “our old system took 1-2 days to process prints which now can be done with LAFIS in real-time. We expect to see 30% more hits on latent prints then in the past. We initially set an accuracy requirement of 94-95%. Cogent said lets raise the bar and the new system is currently achieving 99.9% accuracy, " Bryant said.
“This system meets all national standards and stands at the forefront of the next generation of forensic technology,” according to Cogent Systems President, Ming Hsieh "We at Cogent are extremely pleased to deliver our most sophisticated AFIS system to LA County, our local community on time and on budget.”
According to Greg Hochstetter, Cogent LAFIS Program Manager, “This project was an example of exceptional teamwork between Cogent Systems and the law enforcement agencies throughout the County. The major agencies, LASD, LAPD, LBPD, joined by representatives of smaller agencies such as Whittier PD, conducted weekly working sessions as the LAFIS was designed and implemented.
The system was delivered within one year and represents the next generation in AFIS technology with its ability to search flat and rolled prints, multiple records per subject at the highest resolution, includes an online Web based archive system, integrated palm and finger matching, and the highest accuracy in the industry. LAFIS provides advanced capabilities including connectivity to mobile ID devices, streamlining the booking and release process at county jails and city booking sites and provides the platform for Rapid ID for custody and court ID processing. LAFIS represents a leap forward in AFIS technology”.
About Cogent Systems
Cogent Systems, Inc. based in South Pasadena, California, is the world’s leading supplier of integrated finger & palmprint identification solutions for law enforcement, government and commercial customers. As the premier provider of AFIS for law enforcement agencies worldwide, Cogent advanced matching algorithms drive the identification system used by agencies and police forces in over 15 countries.
Cogent's technology provides scalable identification solutions; from the chip level for PDA’s, mobile phones, access systems and mobile laptop computers to stand-alone workstations or systems supporting thousands of users connected via private networks or secure Internet connections.
Cogent has its headquarters in South Pasadena, California, and other US offices in Washington, D.C. and Ohio. It also has offices in London, Vienna, and Taipei."
More information on Cogent Systems, Inc. can be accessed via the Company web site at http://www.cogentsystems.com or by calling Gerry Schmidt, Director of Sales and Marketing at +1 626-799-8090.
