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UK: Nafis crashes

01 November 2004

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In November 2004 the collapse of the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (Nafis), which is said to be the most sophisticated system of its type in the world, hit almost all of the 43 police forces in England and Wales. Nafis, crashed on 24 November and police officers were unable to check the fingerprints of suspects for up to a week when more than four million records on the database were rendered inaccessible. The system, which cost £96 million to set up in 1999 and is run by the US defence and electronics company Northrop Grumman (formerly TRW), uses Livescan, which captures fingerprints by direct scanning and transmits the digital image to a central database for checking. The crash was the latest in a string of IT collapses involving government agencies. Recent breakdowns have involved the Passport Agency, The Department of Work and Pensions and the Child Support Agency. This latest "major failure" throws into doubt the government's plans to introduce a national identity card system that will include biometric details such as fingerprints, (see Statewatch vol. 9 no 5).

Independent 3.12.04.

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