“If you inspect the bowls of jello at the buffet to get the slice with no fingerprint on top…you might be a latent print examiner.” -Jim McNutt, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department, Wichita, KS Latent Print Examiners By Jane Preston

Latent Prints: in general…. Latent Print- impression made by friction skin on hands or feet No two fingerprints are identical (even between twins) Fingerprinting identifies most murderers, rapists, and other serious offenders FBI-based IAFIS database holds over 150 million fingerprints

As a Career… 2005: $36,000-$60,000 per year Wide Availability Promotion: Senior Print Examiner (required 7 years experience) Job Definition: use chemical, physical, optical, and computerized techniques of scientific analysis to locate, recover, preserve, compare, and identify friction ridge details (fingerprints).

Education and Skills Required… Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in criminal justice, forensic science, physical science, or related field Two (2) years experience related to the fingerprint classification and latent print functions in a forensics environment Basic Fingerprint Class or equivalent

Main Responsibilities Make +/- identification –Crime scenes/suspects –Disaster sites Classify fingerprints Evaluate fingerprints’ evidentiary value Have latent-print evidence readily available Enter prints into AFIS Use AFIS to search for offenders in suspect-less cases Serve as expert witnesses in court Maintain logs and records of examinations