Instructors: W. Morgan Hays, CLPE
Course length: 40 hours

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The Fingerprint Evidence Processing, Collection, and Photography course includes comprehensive training in the mechanical and chemical processing of latent print evidence as well as two days of photography workshops that include specialized lighting techniques and use of forensic light sources to visualize and photographically record the evidence.

The processing, collection, and preservation of fingerprint evidence are primary concerns for those who have conducted crime scene investigations for the past 100 years.  Many of the individuals who are currently charged with this responsibility have not had the opportunity to attend a course of instruction on the proper application of latent fingerprint processing techniques that are available to them.

This comprehensive 40-hour course on the processing, recovery, and photography of latent print evidence has been designed for detectives, crime scene investigators, and fingerprint identification specialists.  This course will provide both lecture and hands on techniques for processing latent prints on various surface types, using both mechanical and chemical techniques.  Additionally, students attending this course will learn to take legible fingerprints that are suitable for booking, eliminations, and other uses.

The course will also introduce students to photographic and lighting techniques that are useful in the documentation of latent print evidence.  Photography is essential in cases where prints cannot be otherwise collected, where processing techniques do not render permanent results, and in cases where processed evidence is not readily visible or discernable to the naked eye.  Since this course presents techniques that include fluorescent fingerprint powders and dye stains, an overview of forensic light sources will be presented, and students will have access to forensic light sources in order to visualize and photograph the evidence they process in class.

Course topics include:
•    Friction Ridge Skin and Understanding Latent Prints
•    Taking Legible Prints, the Importance of Eliminations
•    Personal Protective Equipment and Laboratory Safety
•    Basic Latent Fingerprint Processing & Recovery Concepts
•    Processing Latent Prints with Fingerprint Powders
•    Superglue Processing
•    Fluorescent Dye Staining
•    Using Casting Media to Process Pliable and Non-Conducive Surfaces
•    Techniques for Enhancing Impressions in Blood
•    Processing Adhesive Surfaces
•    Techniques for Processing Special Surfaces
       -    Waxy or Oily Surfaces
       -    Wet Surfaces
•    Processing Porous Surfaces
•    Fingerprint Photography
•    Specialized Lighting Techniques for Evidence Photography
•    Alternate Light Source Overview and Photography

Chemical processes include:
•    1,2 Indanedione
•    Acid Fuchsin (Hungarian Red)
•    Acid Yellow 7
•    Amido Black
•    Ardrox
•    Basic Red
•    Basic Yellow
•    Coomassie Blue
•    Crystal Violet
•    DFO
•    Leucocrystal Violet
•    Ninhydrin (Heptane)
•    RAM
•    Rhodamine 6G
•    Small Particle Reagent
•    Sudan Black

Mechanical processes include:
•    Black Fingerprint Powder
•    Colored Fingerprint Powders
•    Magnetic Fingerprint Powders
•    Fluorescent Fingerprint Powders
•    Casting Media
•    Use of Fingerprint Brushes
     -    Fiberglass/Carbon Fiber
     -    Feather
     -    Camel Hair
     -    Magnetic

Students in attendance will have the opportunity to use these tools in class while learning their correct application methods.  Safety will be stressed in all exercises.

W. Morgan Hays, CLPE

Morgan Hays holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Anthropology from Florida State University. He is a certified latent print examiner and is currently supervisor of a Latent Print Section at a state crime lab.

He has participated as a technical assessor of latent prints for ISO 17025 laboratory accreditation assessments from the municipal to the federal level.

In 2009, he was awarded the Missing Children’s Day Law Enforcement Task Force/Team of the Year.

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