What is FAP Certification Anyway? Crossmatch Q&A is Here to Help

Crossmatch is continuing its educational efforts with a new Q & A on its blog delving into livescan fingerprinting. And the Q & A’s author, marketing lead John Hinmon, isn’t afraid to get into the weeds – meaning even industry pros could learn something.

That’s probably most true with respect to the bewildering range of certifications that pertain to livescan fingerprinting. Lots of solutions boast of FAP certification, but it’s an open question how many of the people they’re marketing to understand that this comes from the ANSI/NIST-ITL Standard, or that the associated numbers – FAP 30, FAP 45, FAP 60 – basically correspond to the size of a given sensor’s capture region.

Similarly, others may not be aware that PIV certification refers to a subset of Appendix F certification – so any solution with the latter is PIV certified by default. And what is Appendix F? It’s an FBI certification with its own standard variations depending on the market to which it’s applied, of which Hinmon offers a few different examples.

This information is especially timely for Crossmatch given that the company has just announced that its Nomad 60 device has received Appendix F and FAP 60 certification. But in keeping with Crossmatch’s recent survey of the industry’s evolution after the 9/11 attacks, its Q&A is more wide-ranging, starting with the basic question of what livescan fingerprinting even is, and eventually looking in detail at specific solutions now on the market.

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March 28, 2018 – by Alex Perala