Boyd Baumgartner wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:23 amThis document is accepting comments until Aug 20th. Be sure to weigh in, the document is...uh...interesting.
After reading this AAFS-ASB-proposed training program for latent print examiners, several comments seem appropriate:
1. Your statement quoted above brings to mind the curse,
"May you live in interesting times."
2. More emphasis seems to be put on understanding the statistics of probability modeling than on ability to examine and reach valid conclusions on complex latent prints.
3. There is no section on the History of Fingerprints, although the topic is brought up tangentially in other sections. Maybe history doesn't matter.
4. The
Scientific Working Group on Frictionridge Analysis, Study and Technology, AKA
SWGFAST (see
http://clpex.com/swgfast/), could
reasonably be described as follows:
a)
SWGFAST was the premier guidelines and standards determining body for latent and tenprint operations for over two decades prior to the
formation of the OSAC.
b)
SWGFAST was responsible for upgrading the discipline from the pre-ACEV decades to the present day.
c)
SWGFAST propelled the science of latent print examination from the 20th Century into the 21st Century.
d)
SWGFAST provided consensus documents that contributed to the first comprehensive written policies and procedures in countless departments
worldwide, both accredited and unaccredited.
e)
SWGFAST documents are still used as reference in the practice of latent print examinations, from training to practice to writing new policies
and procedures.
f)
SWGFAST IS NOT MENTIONED EVEN ONCE IN THIS FIFTY PAGE AAFS-ASB TRAINING STANDARD
See for yourself. Do a word search for "Scientific Working Group" or "SWGFAST."
Why does the AAFS-ASB avoid even the mere mention of the body that guided the practice of fingerprint examination for the decades immediately prior to the formation of OSAC? Even in sections of this training program that touch on professional organizations and history, it is as if
SWGFAST never existed.
What gives?