Identification and Classification Section

The Sheriff’s Office BCI maintains one of the largest collections of fingerprints in the state and the largest in Essex County. Numerous agencies throughout the state rely on our fingerprint files to aid criminal investigations, uncover deceptive identities and identify suspects.

After the booking process, specially trained fingerprint classifiers consolidate the fingerprints that were just taken with existing defendant files. When a suspect/defendant is booked for the first time, the Master File is searched to ensure an individual does not have an existing record under another name. New defendant files are created daily and merged into the overall system.

Recipients of domestic violence restraining orders are fingerprinted in the BCI. The classifiers create and maintain files for these individuals and submit their prints to the NJSP.

DNA samples are taken from all persons convicted of a 1st through 4th degree crime. Personnel in the BCI collect these samples after verifying the individual’s identity. The samples are then sent to the NJSP to be logged and forwarded to a national database for law enforcement access.