Michelle Triplett’s Fingerprint Dictionary

[Taggart]

I have often viewed Michelle Triplett’s Fingerprint Dictionary online at

http://www.fprints.nwlean.net/

It is indeed a invaluable piece of work which will help fingerprint examiners and the public alike. However for it to succeed it needs to be a living document. I noticed toady it was last updated on 29 April 2012. I checked to see how it records the findings of the Fingerprint Inquiry from 14 December 2011, the biggest Judicial Review of fingerprints ever held in the UK.

Shirley McKie - 1997
In 1997, Shirley McKie, a detective with the Strathclyde Police in Scotland,
was charged with perjury after denying that she had left a fingerprint at the
murder scene of Marion Ross. David Asbury was convicted of this murder based
on other fingerprint evidence. Later both charges were overturned while the SCRO,
who performed the fingerprint analysis, stood by their identifications. On February 7, 2006,
just prior to Shirley McKie’s civil hearing, The Scottish Ministers settled out of court for the
full amount Ms. McKie was suing for, while not admitting to any errors.
Over 10 years after the murder the identifications were still under dispute and a resolution
seemed impossible. In April 2007, the examiners involved in this case were asked to resign.
4 of the 6 examiners (Robert McKenzie, Allan Dunbar, Hugh McPherson and Charlie Stewart)
took a redundancy package. One examiner, Tony McKenna, agreed to be redeployed to
Strathclyde Police. Fiona McBride refused to accept another job at 1/3 of her salary and
was fired on May 1, 2007. Fiona McBride is pursuing legal action.

Nothing regarding the Fingerprint Inquiry. I then checked the Dictionary profiles of two of those who made errors:

Leadbetter, Martin FFS, RFP, Bachelor of Arts + Honours
Martin Leadbetter was employed within the Fingerprint Branch at New Scotland
Yard from 1966/72. During this period he was also responsible for attending
crime scenes in Central London as a Divisional Fingerprint Officer. Having
qualified as a Fingerprint Expert in 1972, he transferred to the Gloucestershire
Constabulary where he remained employed for just over two years, after which he
took up the post of Deputy Head of the Fingerprint Bureau for Hertfordshire
Constabulary, just north of London.

In 1988 he was seconded to the Home Office as part of the team investigating
implementation of a national AFIS for England and Wales. This secondment lasted
until 1991 and during this time he assisted in the writing of the Detailed
Operation Requirement for a national AFIS and made several visits with the bench-
marking team to the USA and France where systems produced by Printrak, NEC, Morpho
Systèmes (now Sagem) and ISS were all tested.

From January 1991/August 1995 he was employed by Sagem SA as Fingerprint Expert
and Consultant. During this period he visited the police departments of more than
thirty countries worldwide, including two visits to Siberia, South American countries,
South Africa, numerous visits to the USA, Russia and most European countries.

In September 1995 he took up his present post as Head of the Fingerprint Bureau for
Cambridgeshire Constabulary, based in the East Anglian region of the UK.

He has been a member of IAI since 1978, a Distinguished Member since 1988 and achieved
Life Membership in 2003. He is a Founder, Fellow and Life Member of The Fingerprint
Society and was its first Secretary and Assistant Editor of the Society's journal,
Fingerprint Whorld for just on fifteen years. Today, Mr. Leadbetter is a serving
member of The Fingerprint Society Committee. Recently, he has acted in a consultative
position in Bosnia, assisting the European Union Police to implement a national AFIS
for that country. He has addressed several conferences, both at home and abroad, in
particular at the Humboldt University, East Berlin, Surgut, Siberia and most recently,
in October 2004 at the Centenary Conference in Budapest, which celebrated the first
hundred years of the fingerprint system in Hungary.

At home he is now very active holding several important national posts. He is a member
of the National Fingerprint Board of England and Wales, Chairman of the Bureau
Practitioners' Sub-Group and a member of the Standards Working Group. Until recently
he chaired the Third Level Detail Sub-Group, which had been instigated by the
Association of Chief Police Officers to investigate the potential use of so-called
'third level detail' within the identification process. He also sits on the IAI's
International Committee and is a member of the Journal of Forensic Identification's
Editorial Board.

He is a Registered Forensic Practitioner with the Council for the registration of Forensic
Practitioners and Member of the British Academy of Forensic Sciences and holds the degree
of Bachelor of Arts with Honours.

Throughout his long career within the fingerprint discipline he has been a constant
contributor to forensic and scientific journals. He strongly holds the view that
fingerprint identification is not a science, but a technique that requires
considerable skill, but is prepared to compromise and accept that it has a scientific,
albeit a rather nebulous 'scientific' basis.

In his spare time Martin Leadbetter enjoys gourmet cooking, wine and is a composer having
written three symphonies, numerous works for chamber and instrumental ensembles, more than
fifty songs, and works for choir, band and orchestra. He is also a Member of the
Corporation of the Royal Albert Hall, London. As an author he has just completed his first
full-length novel, Deep and Crisp and Evil, which gives an uncompromising insight into the
working of the modern police service and forensic discipline.
11-24-2004

Martin Leadbetter retired from the Cambridgeshire Constabulary on Aug. 12, 2005. He
remains an active participant in the fingerprint industry.

Berry, John B.E.M. (1926?-Nov. 11, 2011)
Berry was born in 1926 in Birmingham, England. He served in the British Army from
1944 to 1948, stationed in Germany. Upon demobilization he entered the police service,
joining the fingerprint bureau in 1955. He served in the bureau for 20 years, having
the rank of sergeant from 1960 to 1975. He retired from the police service in 1975
and joined the Hertfordshire Constabulary Fingerprint Bureau as a civilian technician.
This bureau was a hive of activity because The Fingerprint Society originated there.
Berry edited The Society’s journal FINGERPRINT WHORLD, the first issue was published
in July 1975, and he subsequently edited 64 consecutive quarterly issues, until
retiring from the bureau in 1991, after reaching retirement age. In 1989 he was
awarded the British Empire Medal by H.M. The Queen for ‘services to fingerprints’.
In his retirement, Berry has continued with fingerprint research, publishing 25 annual
editions of his brainchild ‘Ridge Detail in Nature’ (renamed ‘Strabismus’ in 1998),
some issues having more than 100 pages. He is now in his 79th year (2005), and is in
ill-health, but still settles in his den everyday, keeping up-to-date with fingerprint
matters. He states that in his fifty years of working the discipline, he has found
that when dealing with a really difficult crime scene imprint, a ‘within a minute’
decision is totally feckless. There should not be a time limit for the technician to
make a comparison; the distortion factor may have a bearing on apparent dissimilarities.

I can only assume the updates are still being worked on. While I realise in the past some have carefully chosen to ignore events of the past, if this Dictionary is to be seen for what it genuinely is, and that is a valuable resource for the Science, it needs to reflect the truth, and needs to record for history those who committed errors.

These facts are a matter of public record.

Perhaps there is a genuine reason why there are at present no updates on the Fingerprint Inquiry and its findings. If that is the case I apologise I just would hate to see such a valuable piece of work only reflecting selective events from history.

[Angie]

I too have used “Michele Triplett's Fingerprint Dictionary” on numerous occasions and I think that someone who took the time to put the dictionary together would welcome input from those concerned that something needs to be changed or updated. Have you contacted Michele with your thoughts? If not, I think you should.

[Steve Everist]

I have often viewed Michelle Triplett’s Fingerprint Dictionary online at

http://www.fprints.nwlean.net/

I can only assume the updates are still being worked on. While I realise in the past some have carefully chosen to ignore events of the past, if this Dictionary is to be seen for what it genuinely is, and that is a valuable resource for the Science, it needs to reflect the truth, and needs to record for history those who committed errors.

Did you email her?
Most of her updates come as a result of people contacting her to add or update entries. Being the person who prepared the written version for publication, we usually end up having a point at which we have to stop updates to get the final PDF ready for publication. A lot of what is in the dictionary comes from the outside requests that are always coming in. As someone who often views it, I'm sure you'll notice that many of the biographies are autobiographies, which are usually pretty easy to figure out due to the amount of information and their size. I know she doesn't continually poll those with entries to see if they want them updated - they have to contact her themselves.

These facts are a matter of public record.

And a large record it is - which means that any entry would likely be a smaller reference and anyone interested in more information would have to take it upon themselves to research further.

Perhaps there is a genuine reason why there are at present no updates on the Fingerprint Inquiry and its findings. If that is the case I apologise I just would hate to see such a valuable piece of work only reflecting selective events from history.

More likely there isn't a reason and you're looking too deeply into this with some personal agenda attached. Michele doesn't visit the CLPEX forums anymore, so posting criticisms of selectivity of dictionary entries may not get you the satisfaction you're looking for. In fact, knowing her as most people do - it will more likely get you resistance before compliance.

I'd suggest you send her an email with information you'd like to see updated. This will be the best way to see an update, although it may not be quite as in-depth as you may like. But that's the beauty of the internet - if you aren't happy with what the information form one source, you can always make your own.

[Taggart]

Thanks Steve. Would you be so kind as to pm me her email? I actually have posted on two previous occasions about the very same subject without any response.
I appreciate what you say about the individuals biographies coming from themselves when I read the last few lines of John Berry' s.
I am not looking for lengthy updates. In John Berry and Martin Leadbetter case a few lines will suffice. I will do the same for other involved and it anyone wants to add anything they too can contact Michelle.
There is no hidden agenda, I am only looking for the facts to be recorded. In order for openness I will post my updates to Michelle on here for all to see.
Thanks again Steve.

[briano]

It's gotta be true, I found it on Wikipedia. Ain't the interweb great!

[Taggart]

Steve,

Thanks for supplying contact details for Michelle. I will get something drafted in the coming weeks. I propose to firstly publish them on here for comments, and additions.
If nothing more than to show fairness and to show, as you suggested, that there is no personal agenda, other than the desire to see accuracy and significant findings and events recorded for posterity.

Thanks