Countywide : County Fingerprints Tied Into State’s Data Base

Orange County law enforcement officials Monday linked their automated fingerprint identification system with the state’s computerized fingerprint data base.

The connection adds 1.5 million fingerprints to the 500,000 the county has stored in its system since January, Sheriff Brad Gates said at a press conference.

The county’s $2.9-million computerized system was the first in the state to hook up with the state Department of Justice’s central data base in Sacramento, Gates said.

If the system had been in place two years ago, Night Stalker suspect Richard Ramirez could have been identified “in a matter of minutes,” Gates said.

The system enables law enforcement officials to quickly match fingerprints stored in the data base with prints lifted from crime scenes and to positively identify suspects, said Frank Fitzpatrick, chief criminalist for the Sheriff’s Department.

Since the county system began operating in January, police have matched 400 suspects to prints taken from crime scenes, according to figures released at the press conference.

“This will clear a lot of crimes,” Gates said. “We don’t need to have a name like before.”

The system is housed at the Sheriff’s Department, with four remote stations for entering data in Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach and Anaheim. A fifth remote site is expected to be set up this month in Irvine.

Countywide, the system is expected to cost $644,800 a year to operate. An additional $216,000 will be paid to the state annually for 10 years to cover initial equipment and expenses.