Committee OKs forwarding King County AFIS live-scan interlocal agreement to council

The Federal Way Finance and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to forward an interlocal agreement with King County that continues the city police department’s use of the county Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) live-scan technology. The agreement was advanced after a departmental presentation and a brief question-and-answer session about how the system works and whether the city would bear any costs. Commander Michael Coffey of the Federal Way Police Department told the committee the department has used live-scan equipment for over two decades and that the electronic system “enhances the precision of the capture of the fingerprints, allows for faster identification of unknown individuals, and improves our overall efficiency.” He told members the county-run AFIS program follows FBI and state CJIS security protocols and that the city faces no net financial obligation under the proposed interlocal connection. Committee members asked operational questions about how many machines the city maintains and whether the system has mobile capability. Coffey said the department operates one machine at headquarters and another at the mall substation, and that the AFIS vendor also offers a separate mobile identification app that is not used for booking fingerprint capture. Coffey said reverting to ink-and-paper collection would be slower and reduce identification accuracy. Chair Huang Tran moved to forward the proposed connection agreement to the Aug. 12, 2025 consent agenda; the motion was seconded and passed 3-0. The forwarded agreement will appear on the council consent calendar for formal approval; committee discussion did not direct staff to change the proposed agreement or negotiate additional terms. The committee had no public comments on the item and closed discussion after the vote.