Palm Print Search and Comparison Techniques

Instructor: Morgan Hays, CLPE
Course length: 24 hours

Many latent print examiners, novice and expert alike, find conducting analysis and comparison on palm prints and the lower joints of the fingers to be challenging. However, there are many clues in the friction ridge skin of the hands that can make orientating, searching, and comparing these prints very easy. This three-day, Palm Print Search and Comparison Techniques, workshop is designed to introduce you to those clues to assist you in this process and help speed up the amount of time you spend trying to conduct your casework. By knowing these clues, the work you do on palm prints and the lower joints of the fingers will be quicker and more productive. Eventually, as you practice these hints over time, you will find that palm prints and lower joints of the fingers can be just as easy as fingerprints!

Goals of the Workshop:

Because it specializes in palm prints, this workshop is designed to fill the training gap for novice latent print examiners who may not have had a palm print course or to serve as a refresher for veteran latent print examiners who have. Upon completion of this workshop, the student should gain knowledge of position orientation clues located within the ridge flow and creases of the palms of the hands. This information should assist the attendee with speed and efficiency when searching and orientating latent palm prints for either manual comparisons or automated searches. The practical exercises are designed to reinforce the topics covered in the lecture each day of the class and progressively increase in difficulty culminating in a final exam.

Magnifiers are not required for this course, however, the student may bring their own if they prefer.

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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