​Instructor: Angela Berry, CLPE, CCSI
Course length: 40 hours

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Basic Friction Ridge Analysis

Course Overview

This forty-hour basic friction ridge analysis workshop is aimed at beginning latent or ten-print examiners. While the history of the use of friction ridge skin is discussed, the main topics include hands-on activities in areas such as recording major case prints, determining pattern types, analyzing unknown prints for comparison sufficiency, basic comparisons between known and unknown prints utilizing the ACE-V methodology, completing analysis reports using nomenclature common to the discipline and answering questions with ethics in mind.
 
Course Schedule

Day One 

• Introduction and course overview
• Brief lecture on the history and development of the use of friction ridge skin as a form of identification and the historical methods of identification and fingerprint classification; this can include an overview of the Henry method of classification if the attendees’ agency maintains Henry files.
• Discussion of the philosophy of the uniqueness and permanence of friction ridge skin
• Hands-on recording of legible fingerprints and known “major case prints”
• Determining fingerprint pattern types (radial and ulnar loops)

 
Method Used: PowerPoint presentation, class discussion, fingerprint cards and portable ink stations for recording friction ridge skin impressions

Day Two

• Brief review and Q & A
• Continuation of determining pattern types (Plain and tented arches and plain, double looped, central pocket and accidental whorls).
• Discussion of the ACE-V methodology and applying the method to determine the sufficiency of unknown prints for comparison purposes (marking the unknown prints and recording the findings).  This will include basic discussions on what determines sufficiency.

 
Method Used: PowerPoint presentation, class discussion, printed handouts and “latent” prints for determining sufficiency

Day Three

• Brief review and Q & A
• The comparison process begins:
  •  A discussion of the basics of making smart, streamlined comparisons will include developing comparison habits that ensure a complete analysis of the prints in question, determining proper orientation and discovering what print patterns are most often located on which finger.
  • Standards of known and unknown prints will be given to the student for comparison purposes. The standards will increase in difficulty each time a student completes a packet.  The packet contains not only the known and unknown standards but also example comparison reports necessary in detailing the comparison process for courtroom testimony.

 
Method Used: PowerPoint presentation, class discussion and packets of known and unknown exemplars

Day Four

• Brief review and Q & A
• A continuation of the comparison process to now include the verification phase.  Completed packets will be given to another student to perform the verification phase.
• After the verification phase is completed the packet will be returned to the original examiner. The original examiner will then complete a basic report of the findings using common nomenclature to explain the comparison process used to determine the findings.

 
Method Used: Class discussion, completing the comparison packets and writing the comparison report

Day Five

• Class review and Q & A
• An in-depth discussion of ethics and the latent print examiner, discussing the usual expert “qualifying questions” and answering the tough questions.
• Testifying for the science not the prosecution.
• An example of the questions:
  • What or who determines the expert’s status?
  • Is it okay to give the prosecution information the defense doesn’t have? Why?
  • Is it okay to complete the comparison process with the requesting party in the room?
  • Is it “junk science?”
  • How does the examiner determine when there’s “enough?”
  • Is it possible for two people to have the same fingerprints?
  • Have you ever made a mistake?

 
Method Used: PowerPoint presentation and class discussion

Additional Information:
This workshop will utilize handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and premade comparison packets. The student will need a magnifier and ridge counters.

Angela Berry, CLPE, CCSI

Holding an Associate’s of Applied Science degree, Angela began her twenty five year career as the first civilian female crime scene technician for the Fayetteville, NC Police Department and then later specialized in latent print development and examinations and moved to the Cumberland County, NC Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).

Angela earned a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from East Carolina University and is certified by the IAI as both a Latent Print Examiner and Crime Scene Investigator. She is a past President of the NC Division of the IAI, served as the NCIAI’s Regional Representative and was a member of the NCIAI’s Latent Print Certification Committee. 

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