| Show alien fingerprinting adds to FBI task t washington fingerprint rec ff ot of the some aliens now being registered in the united states are adding materially to the work of the fingerprinting division of the federal bureau of investigation in addition to this increase the divisions regular work has increased steadily in recent months at present the division has on file fingerprints of 1312 13 million persons when the first returns of the alien registration started coming in the division handled sets of fingerprints ger prints to set a record for busy days fingerprints are being sent to the division from civic organizations whose members have carried out fingerprinting as a measure of personal security there are more than such sets in the divisions f I 1 les ies in addition all government frencies are fingerprinting job applicants cants in three months the division has received sets from the war department from the civilian conservation corps from civil service from the navy from the marine corps from the coast guard and from the maritime corn commission mission all ali these are filed under an intricate mathematical system based on the shape of the markings on the finger tips they are divided so only a few score of each type are filed together the fingerprint expert thus is able to effect an identification of any set of prints in about three minutes in addition to the large active files the division has inactive files for persons past 60 after a person has reached 90 his prints are transferred to the dead files unless the division has been questioned on the individual fingerprint files also are cross referenced to a card system so all information may be obtained easily by clerks some individuals have as many as cards referring to different crimes about cards and fingerprints are marked with red tabs to indicate a fugitive from justice once the fingerprints and cards have been found and an identification made the information is sent to an assembly room where another set of experts verify the identification assemble the material and send it to a typing room here the whole record is typed and copies are sent to all local police forces that have sent the division the fingerprints ger prints of the individual within five years it is expected the FBI records will be help helpful fuji to national defense after the fingerprints of the aliens taken in the registration have been added to them |
