Fingerprint Officer

Fingerprint Officer

Fingerprints are a positive form of identification and are crucial to the detection and solving processes of a crime. Fingerprint Officers are responsible for maintaining local and national fingerprint records using manual and computerised systems. These databases hold vital information about arrested suspects and known criminals. Fingerprint Officers spend most of their time in a laboratory or the Fingerprint Bureau in order to analyse collected evidence and use special techniques to reveal fingerprints using various chemicals and light sources. The matched fingerprints are then presented as evidence to a court. Their job requires many skills, including a great deal of patience, organisational skills and a good eye for detail. In a typical day Fingerprint Officers will photograph recovered marks that have been sent in by Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCOs) and then analyse the fingerprints to see if they have sufficient detail to make a comparison against the National Fingerprint Database. All fingerprint forms taken by police officers are received by the Fingerprint Bureau and the marks are scanned onto the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS). Once the finger marks are on this system, they can then be searched to compare them against fingerprint forms, any elimination prints against the mark and to identify any potential suspects.