Abstract
Biometric databases are continuously updated through the activities of Identification Institutes. In the State of Pernambuco, the Tavares Buril Identification Institute has been carrying out these activities since 1909 through civil and criminal identification records maintained in a physical archive. With the implementation of the ABIS system, the IITB archives will be migrated to a digital platform. Along with this transition, the filing methodology will also change, moving from the primary classification system to minutiae-based analysis performed by ABIS algorithms. To date, no comprehensive survey of this archive has been conducted. Therefore, this moment presents an opportunity to preserve important information that could otherwise be lost within the physical archive and to provide a basis for comparison with data generated by the new biometric technological platform. This prospective study cataloged the frequencies of fundamental fingerprint types, the variability of fingerprint classification formulas, and their distribution according to sex within the studied population of Pernambuco.