Fingerprinting vs. Finger Scanning

Finger scanning and Finger printing are often confused but in actual fact, they are very different in nature.

Finger Printing

Law Enforcement agencies use a fingerprint scanner to capture an optical image of fingerprints for the purpose of storing the person’s fingerprint(s) in a central computer system for criminal matching and identification.

This type of image capture allows the agency to view, print or compare the actual image against others. A visual comparison is the final step in the certification process.

The file size for a full set of prints can exceed 14MB. With hundreds of millions of files on record, the required storage size can become very expensive! The hardware costs alone are quite expensive, with image capture stations typically costing anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000.

Finger Scanning

In finger scanning an optical image is never captured. Finger scanners only capture and measure patterns and/or minutiae (points, ridges, bifurcations, furrows, arches, loops and whorls that make up the fingerprint pattern). This unique data is then processed using algorithms to create a template (a mathematical representation of the fingerprint).

The template file can be either 325 or 1275 bytes, depending on the type of template stored. The systems are far cheaper than finger printing systems, typically costing anywhere between $1,500 and $4,000 per Fingerscan unit.