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10th Annual Training Conference On September 29--30, 2000, SCAFO held its 10th Annual Training Conference in Forensic Identification at Cal Poly University, Pomona. On Friday the 29th, the first speaker was Lt. Bill Salveson of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. He discussed the Regional Sheriff's Data Network, including databases such as LACRIS, which is divided into separate modules, such as Homicide, Fraud, and Gangs. LACRIS tracks an entire event from the time an officer responds to a call, to the subsequent photos, reports, court records, et al. All are cross--referenced with one tracking number, making a comprehensive investigation much easier to conduct. Next, a vendor from Cannon displayed their latest digital camera, the EOS D30. It has superior image quality to most other digital cameras, due to a new technology that creates much sharper images than other models. The EOS D30's price is also lower than one would expect, because Cannon manufactures its own computer chip. For the rest of the day, the AFIS vendors discussed their latest versions of the system, and presented each company's innovations. All four vendors — Cogent Systems, Inc., Sagem--Morpho, NEC, and Printrak — then participated in an historic combined question--and--answer session for the remainder of the afternoon. On Saturday the 30th, Marvin Spreyne of the Riverside District Attorney's Office discussed courtroom etiquette. He created a very detailed outline of what one typically encounters while testifying as an expert witness. Mr. Spreyne also covered things one might not consider, such as what to eat (and not to eat) before your court appearance to improve memory function, and to prevent the jitters (as much as possible, anyhow). The next presentation took on a much heavier tone. Rodrigo Viesca of Chula Vista Police Department introduced the case of Jenny Rojas, a 3 year--old Chula Vista girl who was murdered by her methamphetamine--addicted aunt and uncle. They had beaten and tortured her over a long period of time, then one day murdered her in a bathtub of scalding hot water. Mr. Viesca detailed the extensive evidence leading to their convictions, including the testimony of their own children. They are the first husband--and--wife team to be on death row for the same crime. After taking a break from this extremely difficult topic, SCAFO then held its usual business meeting, executive board nominations were closed and the election held. Many applicants had first and second readings. In the afternoon, Mr. Bill Leo and Mr. Steve Tillman of the L.A.S.D. addressed “Courtroom Presentation of Fingerprint Evidence in the World of Ridgeology”. They discussed why it is preferable to move away from a quantitative fingerprint analysis (i.e., how many “points” of comparison you find between two prints), and toward the more qualitative ridgeology approach. The science of ridgeology examines all aspects of a print, not only pattern type (Level 1 detail) and number of minutiae (Level 2) for example, but pore size and placement, ridge thickness and width, and incipient ridges (all Level 3 details). Quite often, Leo and Tillman explained, two different people may share a number of similar minutiae — for instance, a bifurcation and an ending ridge separated by four ridge counts. However, on closer inspection, that bifurcation may be located higher on the latent print than on the inked print, and there may be incipient ridges on the inked print in different locations than on the latent. This would lead an examiner to conclude that the same finger did not make these prints. Conversely, a partial print with few minutiae that would traditionally have been excluded from evidence in a “point--based” comparison may instead be used as a valid identification, when one considers the abundance of often microscopic Level 3 detail. The ridgeology approach to fingerprint examination is becoming increasingly widespread, and requires an even more thorough, and thus more accurate, analysis of latent prints. The seminar concluded with Steve Tillman's presentation of Fingerprint Image Enhancement with Photoshop. Tillman attended an FBI course on the subject, and provided many printed materials from the class. He displayed several illustrations of ninhydrin prints on “busy” backgrounds, and instructed how to filter out background noise while darkening or lightening the print. The difference in visibility before and after Photoshop enhancement is amazing. No doubt there are many of us who will start using Photoshop for this purpose. With this, the 2000 conference ended. Many contacts were made, business cards exchanged, and hopefully, new ideas taken back to our own departments. —Nicole Salim (Editor - Thanks Nicole. Nicole is a relatively new CSI/Latent Print Examiner at El Monte Police Department and a new member of SCAFO. She is enthusiastic about our profession, has a strong background in writing, and has agreed to help write for The Print. Welcome aboard.)
This article was printed in “THE PRINT” |