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° WORK AND FUNCTIONS OF THE DIVISION OF INVESTIGATION IDENTIFICATION FUNCTIONS | eg oy The Division of Investigetion, in addition to its field investigetive offices, maintains an Identification Unit at o!, 1 . le wr —3 Weshington, D. C., which serves as a central clearing house of te: records pertaining to criminals. The information contained in or . the Division's identificetion files is based primarily upon finger- ae prints, which constitute the largest and most complete collection — NS of current value in existence. FIO, 7/0: i fingerprint rece © 2, Qn August7l, 1933, there were iidex cards in the Division's archives. ‘The chart. which appeers in this pamphlet illustrating the growth of this work since its inception in 1924 through the fiscal year ended June 3O, 1933, reflects gratifying progress made possible by the cooperation of law-enforcezent officials throughout the United States and foreign countries. On August3l, anproximately 2,200 fingerprint r as were being received in the Ndentification Division daily from(6,0CO) con- tributing law-enforcement agencies throughout the world. : All peace officers are invited to avail themselves of the dete on file in the Identification Unit of the Division of Investiga= tion. The service is given without cost to all regulerly constituted law-enforcement officers and acencies Gesiring it. Fingerprint cards, franked envelopes, the pamphlet entitled "How to Take Fingerprints,* and disposition sheets for the purpose of reporting dispositions to the Division are supplied gratis. The Division also furnishes upon req est copies of its pamphlets on the subject of latent fingerprints; court decisions as to the legality of teking fingerprints and the acmissibility of fingerprint evidence; and the modification end exten- sion of the Henry system of identification, devised by the Division's experts and eprlied to its own technical files. = Upon receipt of a fineerprint card from a contributing law-enforcement agency, a letter giving the criminal record, or informing of the fact thet no prior record has been located, is sent to the contributor, An additional copy of the letter citing @ prior record is transmitted in arrest cases for the benefit of the prosecutor as an aié in prosecuting the individual who hes a previous record of arrest. This record is also of value to the Jusce before whom a case is tried, as it is oftentimes studied before determining the length and cheracter of sentence which the | court imposes on a convicted person. ; 10