The Fingerprint Bureau in Norfolk provides an expert identification service dealing with more than 4,000 cases a year and identifying fingerprints left at approximately 1,500 crime scenes.

Each year around 20,000 fingerprint forms from people arrested in Norfolk are processed to confirm identity and maintain the integrity of an offender's criminal record.

Finger and palm marks recovered from crime scenes each year are received in the Fingerprint Bureau from Crime Scene Investigators, these marks are searched using IDENT1 the national fingerprint database, against our local fingerprint collection, neighbouring regional collections and the national collection of over seven million fingerprint forms to potentially identify an offender.

Fingerprints are constantly added to and improve the quality of our electronically-held fingerprint collection. This is a vital role which maximises the number of crime scene marks it is possible to identify when searching the collection.

The Fingerprint Bureau also runs a specialist laboratory where a range of chemical treatments can be used to develop or enhance fingermarks left on a wide variety of surfaces and seized exhibits.

 

Fingerprint Bureau Processes
The Fingerprint Bureau process fingerprint lifts and digital images and logs them on a database ready for assessment by a fingerprint expert for quality.

Those marks of suitable quality are first compared with the elimination prints of anybody with legitimate access to the crime scene, typically family members, friends or employees.

Any suitable marks that haven't been eliminated are now searched using IDENT1, the national fingerprint data base and searching system, against local, regional and national electronically-held fingerprint collections to try and identify an offender.

The searching software is designed to provide the fingerprint officer with the 15 closest matches to the crime scene mark being searched. It is then down to the skill and experience of the fingerprint officer to compare each of those 15 fingerprints and determine whether the same person made the suggested print and the crime scene mark.

When a crime scene mark is identified by a fingerprint expert the identification is independently checked by two other experts. The checking or 'verification' process is a nationally-agreed standard carried out by all Fingerprint Bureaus in the country. Once the identification has been verified, notification is sent out for the investigating officer to act upon.

Fingermarks can also be manually compared with fingerprints of a suspect.

 

Court
Fingerprint evidence is regularly provided, it is held in high regard by the courts and is what is known as 'competent evidence' that can be used alone to secure a conviction without other supporting evidence.