AFIX Technologies, through funding provided by the US Department of State and specifically through the Central America Regional Security Initiative, or CARSI, has upgraded the AFIX Tracker system originally installed for the Belize Police Force in 2002, establishing a central repository of fingerprint and palm print arrest records in the capitol, Belmopan, and installing new AFIX Tracker workstations and live scan systems in remote police stations across the country.
An excerpt from the announcement posted by the US Embassy in Belmopan states: “CARSI represents the United States’ response to deep seated concerns about the deteriorating citizen safety environment in Central America. Soaring crime and murder rates are unsustainable; the economic and social impact of crime is beginning to impact the underlying fabric of society; and, if crime rates continue unabated, political stability and order could be threatened when citizens believe that the organs of government are incapable of protecting them from harm. CARSI focuses on interdicting narcotics, firearms, and bulk cash and on disrupting gangs and organized crime, and concurrently supports efforts to enhance the capacity, professionalization, and effectiveness of the region’s police, prosecutors, judiciary, courts, and prison systems.”
AFIX Technologies installer/trainers spent two weeks onsite in Belize in May 2011 to install the new, upgraded AFIX Tracker server, workstations and live scan devices, and to provide training to more than twenty Belize Police Officers and Crime Scene Investigators. Police stations across Belize are now able to utilize AFIX Tracker workstations to capture and transmit new fingerprint and palm prints taken during arrests directly to the national database in Belmopan, and also to search latents recovered from crime scenes against their local/regional database and against the national database. AFIX Technologies is now preparing to assist in the conversion of the archive of card-based fingerprint records held in the police archives for inclusion in the digital AFIX database now established for the country of Belize.