Fingerprint Inquiry

Examiners should discontinue reporting conclusions on identification or exclusion with a claim to 100% certainty or on any other basis suggesting that fingerprint evidence is infallible.

The Inquiry asked examiners to stop claiming complete certainty or infallibility in fingerprint conclusions. In December 2011, the Scottish Police Services Authority stated that its forensic services division would develop an action plan to make necessary improvements before integrating into the single Scottish Police Service (Scottish Police Services Authority response, Dec 2011). It did not mention certainty claims or the infallibility of fingerprint evidence in that statement (Scottish Police Services Authority response, Dec 2011).

In order to allow the court to assess the strength of their evidence, fingerprint examiners should highlight the variables relevant to their assessment and how they have formed their conclusions in the light of those variables. The conclusion should state if it has been reached through training and personal experience or on any other basis such as statistical analysis.

The Inquiry asked examiners to explain relevant variables and the basis of their conclusions. In December 2011, the Scottish Police Services Authority stated that it accepted all recommendations made of it and would develop an action plan to make improvements by 2013-14 (Scottish Police Services Authority response, Dec 2011). It did not mention reporting relevant variables or specifying whether conclusions rest on personal experience or statistical analysis (Scottish Police Services Authority response, Dec 2011).

Features on which examiners rely should be demonstrable to a lay person with normal eye sight as observable in the mark.

The Inquiry recommended that fingerprint features examiners rely on be demonstrable to lay persons. In December 2011, the Scottish Police Services Authority accepted the recommendation and stated that its forensic services would develop an action plan to make the necessary improvements before integrating into the single Scottish Police Service in 2013-14 (Scottish Police Services Authority response, Dec 2011).

An emphasis needs to be placed on the importance not only of learning and practising the methodology of fingerprint work, but also of engaging with members of the academic community working in the field.

The Inquiry recommended placing greater emphasis on fingerprint methodology training and academic engagement. The Scottish Police Services Authority stated in December 2011 that it accepted all recommendations made of it and would develop an action plan to deliver improvements before 2013-14, though neither methodology training nor academic engagement was mentioned in the sources (Scottish Police Services Authority response, Dec 2011).

The SPSA should develop a process to ensure that complex marks such as Y7 and QI2 Ross are treated differently. Such a process should include the following principal elements: (i) Examination should be by three suitably qualified examiners. (ii) Notes should be taken at each stage of ACE-V by every examiner involved in the process. Those notes should record the information specified in recommendation 52. (iii) No examiner should disclose his or her conclusion to another examiner until all three examiners have reached their independent conclusions. (iv) After all three examiners have completed their individual comparisons they should meet and review the substantive basis of their conclusions. The reasons each has for their respective conclusions should be explored, even when they agree that an identification can be made. Any differences of opinion among them should be discussed in order to determine whether the conclusion is reliable. A note should be kept of the matters discussed at the technical review meeting.

The Inquiry recommended establishing a separate process for examining complex fingerprint marks. In December 2011, Tom Nelson, Director of Forensic Services at the Scottish Police Services Authority, stated that in January it would launch a new approach to "specifically and separately deal with complex fingerprint marks", but did not mention examinations by three examiners, recording notes at each stage, or technical review meetings (Tom Nelson, Dec 2011).

Subject to any requirement under ISO 17025 and recommendations 50 and 51, note-taking as to the detail found on analysis and the process of comparison, though not mandatory, should become the general practice for all fingerprint comparison work.

The Inquiry recommended that note-taking become general practice for all fingerprint comparison work. In December 2011, the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) stated that it accepted all recommendations made of it and would develop an action plan to make necessary improvements (Scottish Police Services Authority response, Dec 2011). Note-taking was not mentioned in the response (Scottish Police Services Authority response, Dec 2011).