There are many examples of cold cases that have been solved through the re-examination of friction ridge evidence. In many of these cases, cold case fingerprints or palm prints have been identified by submitting the prints to an AFIS search using technology and fingerprint databases that didn’t exist at the time of the crime. This presentation explores a number of software processes that may provide additional information when applied to the examination and identification of cold case friction ridge evidence.In some cold cases, friction ridge prints may have been overlooked due to poor quality or other reasons that made them difficult or impossible to compare or search with AFIS. The presentation focuses primarily on software-based techniques that can be used to enhance cold case friction ridge print evidence such that:
• The print is made suitable for comparison or AFIS search, or
• The print is enhanced for improved AFIS search results
The presentation will also address how to apply AFIS searching techniques to re-examine unidentified friction ridge evidence in a cold case.