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Judge Pollak Reverses Himself
The Honorable Louis H. Pollak wrote:
Based on the foregoing considerations,
I have concluded that arrangements which, subject to
careful trial court oversight, are felt to be sufficiently
reliable in England, ought likewise
to be found sufficiently reliable in the federal
courts of the United States, subject to similar measures
of trial court oversight. In short,
I have changed my mind. "Wisdom too often never
comes, and so" - as Justice Frankfurter admonished himself
and every judge - "one ought not to reject it merely because it comes
late." (7 January 2002 Court Decision
partially against fingerprints Court Decision )
PA v. Vikara, Convicted After Starrs' Testimony
Prof. James Starrs was called as an expert
in the methodology of fingerprint comparison,
but renounced much of his written
report during cross-examination. Hearing was October 22,
2001... Defendant convicted of 1st Degree
Murder and Robbery... sentenced to
death. Defendant died January 10, 2002 in the State Correctional Institute
at Camp Hill, PA.
A Judge Takes a Close look at Simon Cole
A New York state judge listened to testimony
by Simon Cole about why he considers the
science of fingerprint identification
suspect... and ruled, ..."Even applying the Federal Court's
Daubert Standard, what Dr. Cole has offered here is 'junk science"...
( Court Decision ) ( Cole's Testimony )
One of Bin Laden's
Terrorists Tried a Daubert Challenge to FP's - After his April
6, 2001 conviction, Ahmed Ressam
was known to most of us as just another criminal
who failed in his bid to exclude incriminating fingerprint
evidence. As Paul Harvey would say, we now know the rest of the story...
Discussion Forum at OnIn
Read
what your peers are asking and answering...
ANSI/NIST: Click HERE
to read ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000. It covers the "
Data Format for the Interchange
of Fingerprint, Facial, & Scar, Mark & Tattoo (SMT) Information
" and is the revision of ANSI/NIST-
CSL 1-1993 & ANSI/NIST- ITL 1a-1997.
And YES , it does cite the new 1000 ppi higher resolution
friction ridge file types... and
the 1K, 2K, etc., migration path for higher resolution.
Congratulations to Mike McCabe,
the IAI, SWGFAST and other organizations and individuals responsible
for helping craft improved national standards!
Equipment and Supplies
Find your
goodies online...
FBI Forensic Science Communications
Forensic Science Communications is a forensic
science journal published quarterly
in by FBI Laboratory personnel. It is a means of communication between
forensic scientists.
FBI LP Processing Guide
Right-click the above link to download the Year 2000
FBI Latent Print Processing Guide.
This
document is 344 KB and
will work best if you download it to your computer (especially if
you are using a telephone modem).
Many thanks to Tim Trozzi, Rebecca Schwartz,
and Mitch Hollars of the FBI Lab
for updating the manual, and to the FBI for making
the Year 2000 version public.
Fingerpint Consultants
Experts
with an online presence...
INS Fingerprinting $$$
Anticipated
to cost up to $500 million,
Senate Bill 1491 introduced on 3 OCT 01 will hopefully
sail thru Congress quickly in this time of need
for fingerprint screening in America.
INTERPOL AFIS Expert Group
The IAEG
is currently composed of representatives
from eight member countries: Brazil, Canada, France,
Germany, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom, and the
United States, representatives from
Interpol and an observer from Europol. It is the charter of the IAEG
to develop and propose for adoption...
Help Wanted... LP Examiner Jobs
Looking
for a change? Ready to retire and start anew?...
The Future of the LP Discipline
Slides from the
July 2001 IAI Conference
Level 1, 2 and 3 Detail
Level
1 includes the general ridge flow
and pattern configuration. Level 1 detail is not
sufficient for individualization, but can
be used for exclusion. Level
1 detail may include information enabling orientation, core and
delta location, and distinction of finger versus palm. Level
2...
Prints on Skin
Because
the same chemicals naturally
deposited in latent prints are also present on the rest
of the body's skin, successful latent print
detection on skin normally involves a
contaminant of some type (blood, dirt, lipstick, wet paint,
vaseline, etc.). I recommend detectives
look carefully at the victim's skin for
any obvious "finger or palm ridge detail" (not just red marks on the
skin). Success may come in the form of ...
Problem Idents
There
is zero tolerance for friction
ridge identification error in forensic science. Ignoring
standards causes errors. A minimum
number of Galton detail "points" does
NOT equal an identification standard. The standard for identification
is not a number. As demonstrated below...
Ruthenium Tetroxide
Used more in Japan than the US, here's another tool
to be aware of...
LP Examination Safety - OSHA Report
In February
1992, the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) received a request
for a health hazard evaluation (HHE) from
a management representative of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C. The request
was submitted because of concern about...
Those interested in furthering their knowledge
will want to read David Ashbaugh's new book . Visit your library, borrow a friend's or buy
one.
Sample Expert Testimony (decades old, but still
interresting)
(Testimony about Lee Harvey Oswald) My full
name is Sebastian Francis Latona. I am the supervisor
of the latent fingerprint section of
the identification division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
I attended Columbia University School
of Law, where I received degrees of
LL.B. LL.M., M.P.L. I have been with the Federal Bureau of Investigation
for a little more than 32 years. I started
in the identification division as a student fingerprint classifier, and
since that time I have worked...
SCAFO
This non-profit
organization was founded in
1937 with forty charter members dedicated to the profession
of fingerprint identification. This Southern
California based association is comprised
of more than 300 members from over 50 different law enforcement agencies...
Shirley McKie.com
Website devoted to the
victim of the Scottish Criminal Record Office's fingerprint identification
error.
Super Glue Fuming
Cyanoacrylate
(Superglue) Fuming Tips - Lessons
Learned - Caution otes - Safety Background Information - Discovery
Timeline...
SWGFAST - Peer Reviewed National
Standards
In 1995,
the United States Federal Bureau
of Investigation, hosted a group of latent print examiners
at the FBI academy to discuss developing consensus
standards which would preserve
and improve the quality of service provided by the latent print
community....
Upcoming Training
Read about
upcoming training opportunities or post new information for the
rest of us...
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