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HOLMES: Dr. Watson, it is a real shame that we were not
about on this earth in present times. I am positive that with the technology of today we would have solved all manner of dastardly
crimes.
WATSON: By Jove Holmes, what do you mean?
HOLMES: Watson do you remember, take that Hollywood moving
image thing we recently saw, with that big star Eddie Murphy. You know Watson, Beverley Hills Cop, where all the sun shines.
Not a bit like foggy old London Town in our time.
WATSON: Why Holmes, yes I remember that one. No horses and carts,
but plenty of those motorized carriages, traveling a high speed everywhere. I think they may have been moving at over 5 miles
per hour. Very fascinating and highly dangerous if I recall.
HOLMES: Watson, you have got it. That Murphy gentleman
a rum sort of chap, places a piece of evidence, a book of matches I believe into a glass tank. He then also places some glue
in the tank and puts the lid back on the tank.
WATSON: Yes, I think I remember that scene.
HOLMES: What do you
think happened to the book of matches?
WATSON: Well er, well um, well, I am not rightly sure Holmes.
HOLMES:
Watson, you must have been asleep. You bumbling old fool. Within minutes this Murphy chap had developed a fingerprint on the
matches in the matchbook. Moreover Watson, he did not use a brush and lamp black to reveal the most excellent fingerprint
evidence. With that sort of modern marvel we could have solved the Jack The Ripper case and all those other cases we had to
investigate.
WATSON: Ah Holmes, I have got you this time. I am not always an old fool you know. I have read about some
of this modern technology mumbo jumbo. The glue Murphy used was called Superglue, or some such. But Hollywood fooled all those
who watched that Beverly Hill Cop junket. Apparently, the glue fumes react with the moisture of the fingerprint deposit on
the non-porous surfaces of items of evidence. The developed prints will subsequently turn white. I am sure that the matches
in the matchbook were a porous surface so the superglue would not work and to top it all, that print developed by Murphy was
as black as the Ace of Spades, you know, not white superglue.
HOLMES: Elementary my dear Watson. I was just testing
your acute powers of observation and research skills. Of course I am aware of the poetic license used by the moguls of Hollywood
and I have no doubt Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had some with our cases. Maybe we should investigate this fingerprint expert evidence,
latent prints, AFIS superglue and CSI phenomenon and see what it is all about!
The Sherlock Holmes Museum
“Do not take anything for granted in the study of fingerprints.” A reputable CSI or Latent Examiner would not do so.
What
looks great for the cinema version of fingerprints, or for CSI, may well be far from the truth in the realm of Latent Prints
identification. Be certain that you are cognizant and confident of the fingerprint identification issues and concerns of your
Forensic Case Review. You may well need the modern equivalent of Sherlock Holmes to scrutinize the latent prints on your behalf.
A Forensic Case Review is a tool all attorney's should have in their arsenal of rebuttal against the prosecution’s Latent
Print Examiner. This is the only way to be certain that the alleged prosecutorial fingerprint expert evidence is as worthy
as the District Attorney purports it to be. It has not always been so and a Latent Print Examiner is sometimes found wanting
in the application if fingerprints as a science of identification.
Latent Prints as a means of personal identification
has progressed a long way since to use of old "lamp black" of late Victorian and early Edwardian times. We have moved onto
Superglue, florescent chemicals, alternate light sources (lasers), DFO, RTX, and many other fascinating tools for the Latent
Print Examiner to utilize in the laboratory, or to be deployed at the crime scene by the Crime Scene Investigator (CSI).
Databases
that hold all the Fingerprints have grown massive over the years and electronic AFIS systems (Automated Fingerprint Identification
Systems) now manage and retrieve the stored fingerprints and palm prints.
Fingerprint error in an AFIS system is rare,
except when caused by computer encoding errors, albeit humans can be involved. Fingerprints error in Latent Prints is not
so rare and is often a human fingerprint error by the Latent Print Examiner. Consequently a Forensic Case Review should always
be considered, not just to confirm or rebut the Fingerprint Identification proposed in the prosecution evidence by their Fingerprint
Expert, but the wider forensic aspects of the case are also an important consideration.
AUTOMATION
With current
modern technology all manner of biometric fingerprint reader equipment is now available in the fingerprint identification
world.
A fingerprint scanner or biometric fingerprint reader can be used for security purposes to access buildings
and computers etc. A fingerprint scanner is also used in numerous automated fingerprint identification system of the police.
The automated fingerprint identification system or for short AFIS, are used as the main database repository of fingerprint
ID data of known offenders. These automated fingerprint identification system (s) can incorporate a fingerprint scanner at
the local police department, or detention facility to be used in the booking process. A common term utilized for a fingerprint
scanner is a Livescan. Biometric fingerprint (s) are used in real time when the suspects fingerprints are obtained by using
the fingerprint scanner to read the “live” fingerprint of the suspect and record it digitally and project it onto a computer
screen. If the quality of the biometric fingerprint is poor then the operator can just use the fingerprint reader again, all
without using the old fashioned black ink and card.
Whilst many fingerprint experts prefer the quality of the old inking
method for recording fingerprints over the modern fingerprint reader or fingerprint scanner, they are certainly here to stay.
Generally the old ink recording of fingerprint detail is superior in that it records better quality data that that of a Livescan
system. As technology progresses, the quality of Livescan will improve.
The automated fingerprint identification system
is not just used to establish if a suspect has a previous biometric fingerprint record detailing their criminal history. They
can also be used to identify latent prints from a crime scene where a closer fingerprint analysis may be required. Whilst
the automated fingerprint identification system has been around for some years, increased computing power in the biometric
fingerprint arena and newer fingerprint ID search algorithms, have vastly improved the world of fingerprint identification
and fingerprint analysis.
There are numerous worldwide companies that can supply an automated fingerprint identification
system – AFIS. Some of these can be large scale AFIS systems that have fingerprint ID databases of millions of persons with
a past criminal history. They can be statewide, local PD, or even a federal agency automated fingerprint identification system.
Many of the smaller police departments have the smaller stand alone fingerprint ID systems.
Be they large or small, the
automated fingerprint identification system does not identify the fingerprint. It merely provides a list of the most likely
offenders in the biometric fingerprint database that match the fingerprint search enquiry, based on the computer algorithm.
It still requires a fingerprint expert to perform the fingerprint analysis to establish if there if there is a fingerprint
ID match. Therefore the human has the final say on the fingerprint analysis, especially where crime scene latent prints are
concerned. Do not belive the speed of the computer matches you see on the TV series CSI - this is just not so.
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