We hope that it will lead to better solving of crimes, says Jonas Hemmar, head of the international unit at the police.
Since the countries signed an agreement in 2017, police have been able to compare fingerprints with the US via Interpol. But with the automatic search function now in place, it is much faster and easier.
"It's a huge time saver. This gives us the opportunity to do this a little more routinely and to find the identity of people," says Hemmar.
To be able to make a hit in the database, the crime in question must be punishable by imprisonment for at least one year according to Swedish law. The search results only show whether there is a hit or not, and if you want to know more, you can send a request to access personal data.
The agreement goes both ways, which means that the FBI is allowed to search Swedish records.
There are all the people who are "dacted", as we say, that is, who we have fingerprinted and are suspected of crimes, says Jonas Hemmar.
Before any Swedish personal data is transferred to the USA, a review is carried out by the Swedish Police Authority.
There is an agreement at the heart of this, so there shouldn't be any problems if everyone follows the regulations. But we are the ones who do the final check against our criteria.
