Latent Print Examination
Daubert
Legal Challenges to Fingerprints
  Click here to bookmark this site!
Frequently Asked Questions
Search
corner gif
Updated 30 June 2008
What's New

Home
Expert Topics
Expert Topics
General Information
Investigator Topics
FAQs
AFIS
Certification
CLPEX
Kasey Wertheim's Site
Consultants
Daubert
Forum
Fingerprint Dictionary
by Michele Triplett
Online Processing Guide
by Alex Mankevich
Online References
Ernie Hamm's Index
MSDS Search
Problem Idents
More Related Links
SWGFAST


HOME

EXPERTS

GENERAL INFO

POLICE

        

 
Search Topic
Latent Prints
or

Fingerprints
Newspaper gif
Powered by G o o g l e
    

Three new proposed Standards from SWGFAST   
Draft for Comment Standards on the SWGFAST Website

 Standard for Examination of Simultaneous Impressions

 Standard for Friction Ridge Automation Training (Tenprint)

 Standard for Friction Ridge Digital Imaging

 


 
Position Paper on Latent Fingerprint Identification from the IAI...  29 Nov 2007, from the International Association for Identification.
 

Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community  Interesting documents online at the National Academies of Science Committee on Science, Technology and Law

 


 

Acid Yellow FP

ACID YELLOW Development of Bloody Latent Prints on Dark Surfaces... 
27 Jul 2007 IAI presentation
, courtesy of the US Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory.

Right-click here to download the large PowerPoint version of this presentation, then open on your computer.

Right-click here to download the large PDF version of this presentation, then open on your computer.


Ninhydrin Development without expensive or dangerous solvents.  Research from Korea...


Major Case Prints DRAFT Card 
A new card for recording all finger joints/tips and thenar (base of palm) areas was drafted by SWGFAST in September 05.   It is anticipated that the new Major Case Prints form number will be FD-884A.
 
The new card is intended to facilitate comprehensive record finger and palm prints (AKA Major Case Prints) when fully completed with existing FBI Fingerprint Card (Form FD-249 front and back ) and FBI Palmprint Card (Form FD-884 front and back ) records.   The below draft design has not been approved by the FBI and may undergo modifications during vetting with the IAI and other internal and external interested parties.   See the CLPEX.com discussion about MCPs and the new card here.     
 
  new card
Blank Card Front

new card
Blank Card Back
 
new card
Sample Card Front with Prints

new card
  Sample Card Back with Prints

new card
  Card Front Block Sizes

new card
  Card Back Block Sizes
 
MCP standardization will assist AFIS as more vendors design systems for handling all friction ridge areas of the hands.  



 
Latent Print Exam Study Questions
Courtesy of Henry Templeman of the San Jose Police Department
These are not IAI LPCB approved or endorsed - but may help give examiners an idea of their knowledge level in preparation for the LPCB Exam.  Be sure to study all the cited reference materials to acquire knowledge sufficient to pass.




I
nteresting transcript from a BBC Feburary 2006 Newsnight interview with Dr. Itiel Dror on the topic of contextual bias and experts.  
 

 
Madrid Error Prints, including Algerian Ouhnane Daoud's record print, are online here
.





The US Department of Justice's March 2006 documents related to the Madrid Error are online at
http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/s0601/PDF_list.htm

(Recommend downloading these files before opening from your computer).

Among other findings, the 330 page report criticizes the FBI Laboratory's Examination SOP, and SWGFAST guidelines, as repetitive, vague and general.  

The five-page conclusion from the report is available here
(much smaller file) .  
 
 


" The Myth of Goats : How many people have fingerprints that are hard to match?"
by Austin Hicklin, Craig Watson and Brad Ulery

Published as a NIST Interagency Report, NISTIR 7271

   
  



7 Sep 2005 Massachusetts Supreme Court Oral Arguments (swf file type) about Admissibility of Simultaneous Impressions RE: Commonwealth v. Patterson
 

Additional details at clpex.com

New Hampshire June 2005 Daubert Challenge  

Another Simon Cole Article about Fingerprint Error Rates ...Cole begins by hinting that fingerprint testimony is similar to selling fake insurance policies (right-click to save and open this 94 page pdf document)
Click here for the FBI Laboratory Special Report on the Madrid print erroneous identification.

The Madrid Error Prints are online here .
       

Reagents Screen Snapshot
Processing Reagent Guide

Alex Mankevich's Excellent Resource at CBDIAI
  
 
Shirley McKie Case Update

  Click here for the latest details at
www.shirleymckie.com
 
 
New Books on AFIS and Biometrics

Peter Komarinski's AFIS Book
  
Woodward's Biometrics Book


  
Faulds Monument
Dr. Henry Faulds Monument in Japan


Stephen Meagher's August 2002 
IAI Conference Daubert Presentation

(hint... right click the Daubert Presentation link and save to your computer for best results)

The CLPE Roster has been updated.
" Do Fingerprints Lie? " another article ignoring the existence of standards and certification in the fingerprint discipline. Michael Specter's 27 May 2002 piece in The New Yorker
Online article about the alleged ease in spoofing biometric fingerprint readers (Gummi Bears?). Related commentary appears here

In considering the concept of spoofing biometric systems, don't forget that biometric fingerprint reader systems do not identify fingers, but instead determine whether the ridge detail pressed on the reader is similar enough to the registered fingerprint data to trigger a green light instead of a red light using matching criteria AS SET FOR THAT SYSTEM. - Ed German

RUVIS-related commercial links:

e-symposium 
spex 
crimescope 
jobinyvon 


What is a Daubert Hearing and how do you pronounce it?
 

 
A Statement Regarding Am eri can News Shows and Articles about Fingerprint Evidence Credibility in Court...


 

13 March 2002 Order from Judge Pollak
Judge Pollak Reversed Himself
US v LLERA PLAZA

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 )
 
 

US v LLERA PLAZA Memorandum of Law in Support of Government's Motion for Reconsideration of the Court's Exclusion of Fingerprint Opinion Testimony (71 pages - Filed 28 JAN 02)

 

US v LLERA PLAZA Government's Motion for Reconsideration of FP Evidence Exclusion and for Permission to Present Limited Additional Evidence (Filed 18 JAN 02)

 
The Reliability of Fingerprint Identification -
A Case Report