PURPOSE: The purpose of this three-day workshop is to substantially improve the ability of the latent print examiner to conduct latent print comparisons in a more time and cost-efficient manner. This workshop is designed to benefit examiners at all levels of expertise, from new trainees to latent print supervisors. The practical exercises have been prepared so that each student will work with material at their level of expertise and progress to more difficult assignments as their ability grows. These techniques can be applied immediately to both manual and automated palm-print searching. 

NEED: The reason that there is a need for this type of training is twofold. First, many, if not most, latent print examiners have never had any formal training in the area of latent palm print searching. This is because, except on a very limited basis, none existed - UNTIL NOW!. Second, although the development of A.F.I.S. systems has been monumentally successful in identifying latent fingerprints, it has indirectly contributed to a new problem - a whole generation of latent print examiners who cannot effectively deal with palm prints. This seminar is designed to meet the need by training the students to “Search smart before they search hard!” This is accomplished by teaching students to recognize the numerous “position orientation clues” that typically appear in palm prints. 

This workshop is designed to benefit examiners at all levels of expertise, from new trainees to latent print supervisors. The practical exercises have been prepared so that each student will work with material at their level of expertise and progress to more difficult assignments as their ability grows.