The 19th Annual AFIS Internet Conference was held in San Diego, California from August 28 - September 1, 2005 at the Coronado Bay Resort. Over 200 NEC users attended the conference and were given hands on training and the opportunity to conduct latent print searches on the Global Work Stations.
NEC Solutions America presented an update on their current and future products.
Andre Moenssens, Professor of Law Emeritus, spoke on the expectations that the legal system has in terms of fingerprint examiners presenting credible and convincing evidence in the post-Daubert climate that prevails in court. Mr. Moenssens articulated what he saw as the demands that are currently being placed on the profession, and the work that remains to be done to fill in the blank spots that courts have discovered in our profession.
Alan McRoberts, as a Member of the International Review Committee, spoke on the Erroneous Fingerprint Conclusion in the Madrid Train Bombing Case and the recommendations to avoid this from happening again.
Dr. Herbert Pendleton, Criminal Investigator, Essex County Prosecutor's Office, Newark, New Jersey, spoke on Higher Education and Ethics in Law Enforcement. His lecture began with an overview of his doctoral dissertation work into higher education and its effect on police recruits. His work indicates that increased levels of education leads to higher quality of work performance, increased volume of work, less use of sick time, fewer work related injuiries, fewer civilian complaints, fewer sustained civilian complaints, less use of force and less used of deadly force by law enforcement officers.
Areas of ethical inquiry were presented to the attendees, along with recommended readings and ideas for training.
Dr. Pendleton also lectured on Quality Management, Leadership and the Deming Principles (14 points of management). Attendees were exposed to several different aspects of leadership and individual leadership traits.
Steve Nash, Member of the twins project supported by the International Association for Identification in response to Daubert-related issues and questions, gave an update on the IAI Twins' Study.
Mike Campbell, of Ron Smith & Associates, spoke on Our Changing Times, specifically: certification; changes at a national level with who should be allowed to compare fingerprints; Daubert challenges; verification process, and other related issues presently going on.
Dave Naisby and Harry Giordano gave an overview of Pennsylvania's Justice Network, Central Processing, Livescan, Photo Imaging Network, Event Messaging and Notifications, and Facial Recognition Technology.
Gary Williams and Scott Swann provided information on the Next Generation IAFIS. A high level overview on each of the initiatives was presented and the protocol being utilized for eliciting user requirements for the program was defined.
Jeff Carver, Attorney at Law provided the defense counsel's perspective on the questioning of fingerprint expert witnesses and their analyses. Mr. Carver did role playing with a member of the audience (Sgt. George Kegerreis) whom he cross-examined.
Dusty Clark from Western Identification Network (WIN), CA., presented his study on understanding the automated fingerprint database for increased latent search accuracy.
Debbie Benningfield, Deputy Administrator, Houston P.D., TX., presented the Killer on the Railcar-The Rafael Resendez Ramirez Serial Killer Case.
David Woo, Department of Justice, CA. gave an update on the NIST 5-Year Plan. Mr. Woo also gave a presentation on the XML development, the Automated Archive System, and all Electronic Disposition Processing Projects.
Lt. Craig Cleary, El Segundo P.D., CA., described the 1957 murders of two Police Officers and the process that took 45 years and a search through the IAFIS to identify the killer.
John 'Neal' Latta, Department of Homeland Security discussed US-Visit, the airport security program using biometrics such as digital, inkless finger scans and digital photographs to secure the borders and moniter those arriving and departing from the U.S.
Based on the responses from conference evaluation forms received, the conference had something for everyone and they all look forward to next years 20th Annual conference being held at the Indianapolis Hilton Hotel from September 24-28, 2006.
For more information on the AFIS Internet, please visit their web site at: www.afis-internet.org