KBI spends nearly $7M for upgrades to Kansas’ fingerprint system

Kansas has completed an upgrade to its fingerprint database, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced.

The upgrade was possible after the Kansas legislature approved $6.89 million to replace the previous system.

KBI said the system is used to collect, manage and compare fingerprints and palm prints for identification purposes.

The former system, called the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) was aging and outdated with its software and technology.

This made it hard to be supported or maintained, the KBI said.

KBI said the new system, called Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) is more modern and efficient.

ABIS now holds more than two million fingerprint records and over 596,000 palm prints, the KBI said.

"The upgrade to ABIS will aid the criminal justice community in countless ways," KBI Director Tony Mattivi said in a press release. "This new technology makes the process of identifying individuals and determining if they have a criminal history record much more seamless."

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