This investment, whether at local level or centralized, is wasted without exceptional identification response time. The time between the rolling of prints on a live scan workstation and the posting of an SID based upon positive fingerprint identification should never exceed 20 minutes. It seems that live scan is the answer to automated booking. Live scan is certainly attractive for all these continuing and new non-criminal customer applications. Will live scan meet the requirements - just maybe live scan for some purposes is the wrong solution to the problem.
Most alternatives have yet to met expectations.
Quick identification requirements seem to grow daily and your existing identification systems appear to be inadequate to meet them. I managed the development of a centralized mug shot systems built upon prior local investment and continued local diversity. Perhaps this type of approach is attractive to your organization. The challenges facing AFIS and the expanding use of live scan deserve detailed discussion. That future may require reconsideration of some identification requirements and the development and application of new approaches to the identification paradigm.