State Identification Section
The State Identification Section (SIS), although not part of the Forensic Services Group, is located at the Central Crime Laboratory in Sudbury, Massachusetts. SIS is a specialized section within the Massachusetts State Police ( MSP) which is statutorily responsible for maintaining fingerprint identification records. The section is comprised of both state police and civilian personnel, trained to assist law enforcement and citizens of the Commonwealth with their fingerprint record identification needs.

The SIS receives, processes, and maintains both criminal and civilian fingerprint records and photographs (mug shots) from contributing agencies. The SIS works with numerous federal, state, and local agencies in fingerprint record identification matters. Some of the agencies are: Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI), Criminal History System Board (Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) ), ( FRB ), Department of Children and Families ( DCF), Sex Offender Registry Board ( SORB), Mass Trial Courts, and MSP Crime Scene Services Section ( CSSS).

 

In 1986, the Commonwealth was one of the first American jurisdictions to employ an Automated Fingerprint Identification System ( AFIS) to support the processing, identification, and storage of fingerprint records. Known to many in the Massachusetts law enforcement community as "Sherlock", AFIS helped local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies identify suspects by matching recovered latent prints to the fingerprint files of known criminals. Throughout the past 20 years, thousands or crimes have been solved and over 1 million individuals identified using this technology.



An AFIS computer facilitates fingerprint identification by utilizing a special program to enter, store, compare, and match fingerprint data. Currently, AFIS is used to search over 4,000 latent crime scene prints per year and over 200,000 tenprint transactions per year.

 

While AFIS greatly improves the likelihood of a suspect being found, as well as the speed it takes to find candidates by matching fingerprints, members assigned to the unit are quick to point out that often times, the final match is still made by another precise instrument - the highly trained and discriminating human eye.

The State's AFIS system has undergone several upgrades since 1986 to always remain technologically current. Once again, the SIS is in the planning stages of replacing/upgrading the existing AFIS with a new state of the art system. A new AFIS system will provide greater identification tools, enhanced fingerprint storage, and processing technology including the storage and matching of Palm prints.


Office Hours & Directions:
The SIS office is open 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
We are located at 59 Horse Pond Rd., Sudbury MA, 01776
click here for map of Sudbury pdf format of Map of Sudbury PDF.pdf
 

Vendor Technical Specifications Documents:
 Massachusetts Electronic Fingerprint Transmission Specifications v7 (MEFTS) pdf format of Mass Electronic Fingerprint Transmission MEFTS PDF

Current Live Scan State Contracts:
Click the link below to connect with Comm-Pass, type in Keywords: fingerprint, or if you know specific contract name type in Document Number: (example, SP00-E01).
Comm-Pass Web Site

Current Jobs With the Massachusetts State Police:
Click on the link below to search for available MSP jobs. Select "Dept. of State Police" from the Agency: drop down list.
Mass.gov - Commonwealth Employment Opportunities

Location: Sudbury