At the Atlantic Hotel in Banjul on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the Gambia Police Force, in conjunction with Interpol, the European Union, and other regional partners, took the initiative to launch the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) project.
The objective of this programme is to improve the capacity of law enforcement agencies across the area to identify fingerprints. This will be accomplished by simplifying the comparison of digitised fingerprints against a worldwide database, which will result in increased efficiency in the process of solving crimes.
In addition to welcoming remarks by Assistant Superintendent Francis Jatta, the launch ceremony featured presentations from key stakeholders such as Mulie Colley, a representative of the National Security Agency, Hervé Raffourt, a representative of Interpol, Raphael Brigandi of the European Union, and CP Samba Jawo, who spoke on behalf of the Inspector General of Police.

During the presentations, the substantial technological improvements in crime-solving technology that the AFIS project brings were highlighted. The presentations also provided a detailed description of the technical components and implementation phases that are anticipated to alter crime prevention efforts in The Gambia and neighbouring nations.