Glossary

AAMVA

AAMVA is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization that develops and coordinates model programs in the administration of motor vehicles, law enforcement and highway safety, and also serves as an “information clearinghouse” in these areas. AAMVA’s Digital Access and Exchange Program allows Motor Vehicle Administrations (MVA) that are members to interactively request / verify an applicant’s facial image on a surrendered out-of-state document against the facial image from the issuing MVA, effectively offering access to the state’s facial recognition database. (AAMVA)

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FBI FACE Services Unit

FBI’s Facial Analysis, Comparison, and Evaluation Services Unit provides face recognition capabilities, among other things, to support active FBI investigations. FACE Services manually reviews photos received from external partners before returning them as an investigative lead to the requesting FBI agents. FACE Services has access to the NGI-IPS database, the FBI’s “Next Generation Identification” system (NGI), and the Interstate Photo System (IPS), and can also search or request to search databases owned by the departments of State and Defense and some state databases. (GAO)

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IDENT/HART

Homeland Security’s Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) database will likely become the largest database of biometric and biographic data on citizens and foreigners in the United States. Homeland Security plans to support at least seven types of biometric identifiers in addition to face recognition, including voice data, DNA, scars, and tattoos. It is intended to be shared with federal agencies outside of DHS as well as state and local law enforcement and foreign governments. HART is the successor to the IDENT (Automated Biometric Identification System) database. Between IDENT and other DHS-managed databases, the agency manages over 10-billion biographic records and adds 10-15 million more each week. (EFF)

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LEADS

Illinois’ Law Enforcement Agencies Data System is a statewide, computerized telecommunications system designed to provide services, information, and capabilities to the law enforcement and criminal justice community in the State of Illinois. LEADS includes records pertaining to parolees, wanted persons, suspected gang members, stolen property, warrants, officer safety, and missing/runaway persons, in addition to driving records and photos. It is accessible to Illinois State Police and other statewide criminal justice agencies. A variety of data in LEADS is also accessible to municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies as well, though which agencies is unclear. (IL; IL CJIA)

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Pennsylvania Justice Network

The Pennsylvania Justice Network (JNET) is the “primary public safety and criminal justice information broker” for law enforcement in Pennsylvania. It includes information from various contributing municipal, county, state, and federal agencies and has more than 33,000 “practitioners” across Pennsylvania, as well as federal and state agencies. Facial Recognition within JNET allows users to “compare an unknown suspect’s image to over 35 million images from PA databases, including PennDOT” and “can be used on mobile devices allowing users to upload images from the field for instant comparison.” (PAJNET; NIEM)

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