The background of this was a plot point in a Jack Reacher book. I know, hardly authoritative. But there was a significant amount of focus on it as a plot point, and it seemed so weird to me that I started to wonder how this stuff really works.
Anyway. In the book, there is a Bad Guy, a US citizen in Germany, who
is embroiled in some kind of ill-defined terror-related plot that is the primary focus of the novel
and
has recently murdered someone.
The local chief of police has a fingerprint from the crime scene in #2, and Reacher offers to run it through US databases via his connections with US military/CIA/State dept. (its a real hodge-podge). At the time they don’t realize they’re actually looking for the same person.
A big todo is made in the book that this is super illegal. Like, court martial, international incident, do not pass Go illegal. You can’t just take a finger print from the German police and run it through US databases! Because…and here it is not very explanatory. You just can’t.
So, the question: Is this actually illegal? I was sort of under the impression that if some allied country had a fingerprint or a blood sample or whatever from some crime scene and they asked, say, the FBI if it matched anyone, we might just run it and see? But maybe not. I have no idea.
How does this stuff work in general? Given the incredible complexity of international agreements on things, I’m guessing that there are going to be a lot of details and corner cases.
I assumed that the illegality had to do with some random person running some random fingerprint through the system. Like if you wanted to check out the fingerprints of your ex-wife. Of find the guy who stole your drugs.
Jack offers to do it illegally, because doing it legally would have taken months, would have involved demonstrating good cause, and would have wound up with some clerk saying “we don’t do that”.
That does make sense in general. Although it doesn’t quite match the context of the story, in which Jack has the ear of someone who reports directly to the President. And that person says its totally illegal. Pretty sure they could have pushed it through. But I’m not claiming that the plotting has to make sense.
Banksiaman, I know of Interpol. It seems to be set up to enable just this sort of thing. But it also doesn’t look like it’s a requirement to go through Interpol. Interpol is there to help facilitate and navigate the complexities of international police cooperation. Do you know more that’s specifically relevant.
I know the story and the fingerprint is an essential device to further the plot, acting as an incentive to get cooperation from the local police. whether it’s true or not doesn’t really matter; it just has to ‘seem’ believable.
If you start analysing the Jack none Reacher stories you will find them full of holes, while still being a fast-paced and enjoyable action story.
The main issue limiting such sharing is civil liberties, so sharing trace evidence of an unknown perpetrator (as in the Spanish bomb case referred to by rbroome) would be much more likely to be included in international law enforcement information sharing than sharing data (such as fingerprints) of a known person. For example, the one central EU fingerprint database, Eurodac, is intentionally limited in scope and retention period because EU countries balk at sharing all fingerprint data tied to known identities.
Is the fingerprint in the story referred to the OP already tied to Bad Guy‘s name at that stage?
I definitely realize that. And I’m not bashing the Reacher books. They’re super fun. I don’t expect them to be great literature or a treatise on how law enforcement actually works.
It just raised the question in my mind: Is this particular plot point based on anything real? It’s ok if it is, or if it isn’t. I have no idea what the answer is and am curious.
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The main issue limiting such sharing is civil liberties, so sharing trace evidence of an unknown perpetrator (as in the Spanish bomb case referred to by rbroome) would be much more likely to be included in international law enforcement information sharing than sharing data (such as fingerprints) of a known person. For example, the one central EU fingerprint database, Eurodac, is intentionally limited in scope and retention period because EU countries balk at sharing all fingerprint data tied to known identities.
No, the fingerprint is from a crime scene that neither the germans nor Reacher have cause to believe is linked to Bad Guy. We, the readers know it’s his because we saw him commit the murder. However, Bad Guy is a member of the US Armed Forces, which I’m pretty sure keeps fingerprints on file forever.
Come to think of it, based on the wiki description of Interpol, Interpol would presumably not be involved here, since the US military is involved. Reacher is offering to run the print through the Army’s databases. But also Interpol seems like it doesn’t actually do direct policing. It’s just a liaison.
Nothing more than generalities, but have been watching with huge interest the goings on with the disappearance and seeming detention of the [now ex-] President of Interpol when he returned home to China.