Posted by Barry Q Cushman on October 16, 1999 at 16:34:10:
I've been a CLPE since 1978. Retired Kalamazoo Michigan PD and Retired Iowa Div Criminal Invest. The Illinois case is frightening, as when those persons who believe they know what they are doing but don't go unquestioned. I've sat at an AFIS terminal many times and shuddered to think what might happen if an examiner who did not know what they were doing were looking at the prints on the screen and seeing ONLY similarities. While in Iowa I worked a bad Ident that was done by an officer who attended 1 (one) 1-week FBI school. He thought he was now trained.
As to the HMA case, makes one wonder if someone were just in need of adding one more ident to their personal numbers in order to justify their job position, and what is any easier than ti ident a cop that had been at the scene. You have to be able to explain any and all ridge detail that is not in agreement, and if you can't, it isn't and identification. Secondly, there must be a sufficient amount of clarity in order to see what is really there. Looks to me like someone was doing a lot of guessing to come up with the "number" requirement they are stuck with.