Invitation for Complex Latent Print Consultancy

[nebaruyubi]

Some of you may have received the below info today (January 5, 2017) via email, and it is also posted at http://onin.com/fp

Your Participation is Sought for a Complex Latent Print Consultancy Effort

We, Christophe Champod* and Ed German**, are jointly collaborating with attorneys in the context of an adjudicated criminal case. In this case, a latent print (finger mark) has been used in a way which, in our view, raises concerns from a professional perspective. We have jointly expressed our views on the impression, however we believe the case may benefit from the view of a larger group of fingerprint expert practitioners. Hence, we have suggested carrying out a large-scale consultancy effort among fingerprint practitioners to assess the value of the impression to associate (identify) or to exclude.

Hence this present call for assistance in the consultancy effort. We both offer our service pro bono for this case.

Multiple latent print examiners are sought for participation in this consultancy – at least ten, but many more are welcome. For participant selection, priority will be given to experts certified or registered as latent print examiners/fingerprint specialists (i.e., forensic scientists specializing in crime scene friction ridge impression analysis) with at least five years' full-time experience in latent print examination.

The consultancy will be carried out in two phases as follows:


Phase 1 - Evaluation of the suitability of one latent impression for comparison.

A minimum of ten latent print examiners are sought for participation in this consultancy effort.

Only participants who signed up for the consultancy will receive images for evaluation. All participants will receive the same images at 1,000 pixels per inch (ppi) spatial resolution.

Participants will have until 15 February 2017 to submit their analysis results. The results may be submitted either in the form of a narrative or supported by image annotations. The choice of the reporting format is left to each participant. Only examiners who submit their analysis findings will be able to participate in Phase 2.


Phase 2 - Comparison of record prints to Phase 1 impression.

Only participants completing Phase 1 will receive record print images for comparison (all will receive the same images at 1,000 ppi).

Participants will have until 15 March 2017 to submit their comparison results for the project. Again, the reporting format is left up to each examiner.

A summary of the results of this consultancy effort will be prepared for our instructing party (attorneys). Results are also planned to be posted to the website (http://onin.com/fp) after the consultancy.


Confidentiality: Consulted examiners may choose to remain anonymous, or they may choose to have their name disclosed. All named examiners will have an opportunity to comment (before release) on the report we will prepare following this consultancy effort. There are currently no plans for names of the parties (defendant, attorneys, agencies, etc.) involved in the case to be disclosed on the website (http://onin.com/fp).


How to Participate: If you are interested in participating in this consultancy effort, please email a short curriculum vitae to christophe.champod@unil.ch and ed@onin.com. Please include the word Consultancy in the subject line of the email.

We remain, of course, available to answer any questions and thank you in advance for your potential participation.


* Christophe Champod, PhD, Professor, University of Lausanne, School of Criminal Science, Police Science Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland
** Ed German, CLPE, FFS, Special Agent/CW5 and Scientist/GS15 (retired), US Government

[Boyd Baumgartner]

Something seems off about this...

It smells like a research effort masquerading as a situational plea. Please tell me this isn't Dror v2.0 or some attempt to apply black box to actual casework.

[cchampod]

Dear Boyd,

I just want to clarify (if that was needed) that this is NOT a research effort and we are NOT masquerading anything. Both Ed and I are working on a case where we would value additional opinions, hence this consultation. Regards. Christophe

[Boyd Baumgartner]

Thanks for the update Christophe. Good to know.