Latent Finger and Palm Print Verification Techniques

Sept. 2,2010Our on-line Latent Finger and Palm print training course Tuesday 9-2-2010. The course is ready but with the Holiday thought it best to begin next week.

The course will initially be on-line for $378 for a short period of time, this will allow me to tweak some of the presentations with feedback from the 1st. group of students. The heart of the course will be the workshops with over 100 latent palm and finger images against 120 tenprint cards and 51 palm print cards. Experienced examiners could benefit from just the workshops which they will find challenging. The student will be required to complete all the workshops, unlike conventional courses there are no time restraints and the student can take as long as needed to complete the workshop. The great thing about the workshops is if a student is having a problem with a search or comparison, we can easily create an electronic exhibit of the images with the points of interest marked and send it back to the student , similar to a court exhibit. The other benefits to on-line training courses are cost and flexibity (training at the students pace/schedule). The presentations will be Latent Verification Techniques, Palm Verification Techniques, Court Testimony to include FRE 702 , Creating Basic Court Exhibit ,Pattern Recognition.
or more information or to enroll go to:

http://www.fingerprintconsultingservices.com/on-line_training__job_postings
Bob McAuley Dir. Operations/Training Forensic Biometric Identification Solutions LLC.

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Bob McAuley
Dir. Operations/Training
Forensic Biometric Identification Solutions LLC.

Choosing a Fingerprint Expert

As with any profession there are degree's of competence. Not every latent fingerprint examiner has equal skill sets, these are developed by full time commitment to latent fingerprint comparison work.
What you should look for in a latent fingerprint expert is their knowledge. Does the latent fingerprint expert understand the science behind the fingerprints , what training has the individual satisfactorily completed? Does the expert have the experience of training other fingerprint examiners especially in more advanced fingerprint training?
What is the examiners experience? Latent fingerprint examiners are often accepted as expert based on limited comparison experience. A latent fingerprint examiner should spend the majority of the day doing comparison work.
Is the expert a full time latent examiner? with today's limited budgets, many latent experts handle a multitude of duties and may not be as competent as you would expect from an expert.
Make no mistake, the comparisons being produced by the automated systems are producing many more challenging fingerprint comparisons. These more challenging comparisons come as training budgets and staffing in latent units are being cut back, a perfect storm for comparison errors.




Bob McAuley
Dir. Operations/Training
Forensic Biometric Identification Solutions LLC.

Fingerprint Training Course

As I've mentioned many times in my Blogs, the best way of insuring accurate fingerprint evidence is have it evaluated by a competent unbiased latent fingerprint examiner. In theory it is a good solution but in reality it could be cost prohibitive. I've developed a basic fingerprint course that is not only meets the needs for tenprint examiners and latent examiners; but could be used by a criminal attorney's office as well. The clerk or attorney upon completion of the course, would have a good understanding of the automated fingerprint systems, what is meant by unidentified latent case prints and enough individualization skills to evaluate fingerprint evidence. Essentially the person that completes the training would be able to determine when the office should invest in a latent fingerprint expert. The skills acquired in the course would be just as beneficial to a Public Defenders office as they would be for a County Prosecutor or District Attorney.

Course outline:



Bob McAuley
Dir. Operations/Training

Forensic Biometric Identification Solutions LLC

Fingerprint Training Available for Attorney's

One of theme that runs through most of my blogs is the importance of having fingerprint evidence evaluated by a fingerprint expert. In theory this is a reasonable request, but practically, it may be cost prohibitive. An alternative is to have someone in the office receive the same basic training that a fingerprint expert would receive. The trained individual while not an expert would e the knowledge to evaluate a fingerprint case and:



know when to contract a fingerprint expert.

know if all the fingerprints were searched properly.

understand the importance of unidentified latents.



The training would be invaluable for a prosecutor or defense attorney's office. A course has been developed by FBIS-LLC available on-line in mid-January, that would offer the flexibility required to allow someone from a busy attorney's office to complete this type of fingerprint training. The training program is similar to what a new fingerprint examiner would receive at the state or federal level. Since the course is on-line there are no set hours of attendance or timetable for completion.

I also want to point out the training could be used by state and local law enforcement agencies and student's (criminal justice and para-legal programs), as a a basic fingerprint training course, with the ability to utilize the training in an agency remediation program. If you have any questions please visit our website http://www.fingerprintconsultingservices.com/ or contact us at fbis@cox.net


Bob McAuley
Dir. Operations/Training
Forensic Biometric Identification Solutions LLC.

A Review of the FBI's Handling of the Brandon Mayfield Case #4 application of the 1 discrepancy rule

As every examiner knows, latent and exemplar images are never exactly the same. The reasons are many; how the exemplar was recorded or where the latent was deposited, etc. The experienced examiner during the analysis and evaluation must be able to understand and explain any discrepant points found in either the latent or examplar images. In this case we had experienced examiners determine the discrepant points of identification were the result of latent distortion, probably caused by the bag. The examiners made a subjective determination which was incorrect. The panel noted theFBI examiners failed to follow the 1 discrepancy rule , if there is 1 unexplainable discrepancy in either the latent or exemplar image an individualization cannot be made. In this case the examiners did re-evaluate the prints and tried to get the Spanish examiners to agree with the FBI examiners individualization, I don't think they ignored the rule , they felt they could explain the discrepancies. The examiners would have given the Spanish examiners their interpretation of reasons for he discrepant points.

The thing to remember is if highly skilled and experienced examiners, which each of these examiners is can make this type of mistake, what about the less skilled and experienced examiners. Most individualization's are done by examiners with much less experience and training than the FBI examiners. Currently the most effective prevention is for the defense or court to have the fingerprint evidence re-evaluated by an unbiased 3r party.

Bob McAuley
Dir. Operations/Training
Forensic Biometric Identification Solutions LLC.

A Review of the FBI's Handling of the Brandon Mayfield Case;Problem #3 Faulty reliance on Level III Detail

In the Mayfield case the FBI examiners increased the total minutiae they felt they had from 10 points of Level II detail to 15 total points utilizing level III detail. Level III detail can include a number of things from ridge shape and pores to scars and this information can be beneficial in individualization when properly used. It would appear that they continued the " circular reasoning " utilizing the level III detail. The examiners justified the the ten level II points based on the level III detail; ridge shape,pore placement and incipient dots. While I did not see the original images, from what I was able to see, the latent lacked clarity. On poor quality images it is very difficult to obtain reliable level III detail, the such small ridge characteristics are usually compromised by background clutter and distortion. The FBI had several different copies of Mayfields know prints and some of the level III detail was not present in all the copies, which should have caused the examiners concern. While level III detail can be helpful, it becomes less helpful as clarity decreases. I want to emphasize how important it is to utilizie multiple copies of an inked image if they are available when working poor quality images.

Bob McAuley
Dir. Operations/Training
Forensic Biometric Identification Solutions LLC.