The installation of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) at police stations across the country is now complete. The system is expected to reduce police clearances waiting time from a week to two days for customers seeking clearances for students going for training abroad, PSV licence applications and employment purposes.

The system would also assist the police to quicken their release of reports of previous convictions for accused persons, search crime scene marks for identification of perpetrators of crime and for proper keeping of criminal record.

AFIS would improve the slow manual system of ink-and-roll fingerprints to a much faster automated one that would expedite both clearance applications and criminal cases. Over 300 000 fingerprint records have so far been captured in electronic form and back log of old and manually filed record is likely to be cleared soon.

Work stations for inputting fingerprint images and receiving results have been installed at 46 police stations around the country. These work stations have been placed strategically to enable accessibility to all police stations in the country. Installation of a cluster in Francistown has also facilitated easy and speedy access of AFIS by police stations in the North. Although, the initial plan was to install the System at all police stations, it has not been possible due to network constraints in some areas.

The AFIS technology is expected to increase a forensic investigator's chance of identifying a subject because an individual's fingerprint pattern is a unique identifier. Fingerprint technicians would be able to scan fingerprint images into a database for easy storage, retrieval, and comparison.

For more information on how to apply for a police clearance, customers are advised to visit the Government portal (www.gov.bw) under the Botswana Police Service.