Through a secure e-mail type of system, prints can also be sent to state and federal agencies and a match found just as quickly, depending on the agency's human response time. The system's current hard drive has space for 50,000 print records, although only about 450 have been entered so far. Unlike previous PC-based systems, AFIX actually reads fingerprints and then searches for other prints with matching ridges and other characteristics. AFIX comes up with a list of possible candidates in minutes, from which investigators make the final determination as to a match. The system, designed by The Phoenix Group of Pittsburgh, Kansas, can also digitally enhance poor quality prints, often useless otherwise, by altering the background or the print for easier readability.
Partial prints can result in hits as well.
Besides storing fingerprint data and images, the system records pertinent case information. Searches can be limited to physical descriptions, characteristics, names and even particular fingers of suspects. It also stores unidentified prints from unsolved crime scenes, which can be matched in the future with an individual who is arrested on a different charge. The BCI provides investigative services to all local and state agencies in the Cape area. On occasion, the BCI aids federal agencies as well.