Police records over 160,000 fingerprints

POLICE have registered 167,000 fingerprints of criminals in their national data base, police forensic sciences director Chief Supt Philip Rambaliku says
“We have these fingerprint records of convicted criminals that are collected from all over the country since 1965,” he said.
“We can’t get accurate information to update our database. The Police Information System (PIS) is not functioning effectively since the mid-1980s.
“We are now planning to remove half of the records because those criminals of the 1960s and 1970s must have died.
“If they are still alive, they will be in the age range of 70s and 80s, they will be very old to commit crime.”
Chief Supt Rambaliku said the fingerprints of the criminals were manually collected, processed, catalogued and filed in cabinets at the Finger Prints Office at the National Police Forensic Service Centre at Gordon.
He said the criminal data base was most important for police work as it could help trace serial offenders.