Old police styles and new police technology in the US have helped slash Big City crime rates
Across America, major cities have experienced a significant drop in violent crime. Much seems due to more police on the streets, making best use of technology.
Once-notorious crime hubs like Washington DC, New York and Los Angeles, are on track for their lowest homicide rates in 40 years. Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Minneapolis are among other cities seeing notable reductions in murders.
Police say a return to beat policing combined with the introduction of sophisticated new crime fighting technology are responsible for slashing crime rates. Among the technologies which play a greater and greater part are mobile systems which keep officers on the street better informed about what's going on around them . more on this topic.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8190226.stm
Thursday, August 13, 2009
New technology : Mobile microwave scanner could detect guns
British scientists have developed a portable microwave scanner which could help identify individuals carrying concealed guns and knives. Unlike existing scanning systems, it does not need to be used in close proximity of suspects.
Unlike airport scanners, the portable machine does not produce an image of the subject, it only analyses signals. It is designed to work out on the streets and is not restricted to a closed, controlled environment.
A human operator would transport the device, using it to direct microwave emission at a person of interest. Return signals - microwaves reflected back towards the device - are picked up, sensed and analysed. The device, which is under development at Manchester Metropolitan University, could help increase the effectiveness of stop-and-search. The existing prototype is suitable for the detection of guns, but researchers say subsequent versions of the technology will be able to identify concealed knives as well. This kind of device would be of great service to officers, helping them to catch people carrying guns and knives without putting themselves in increased danger. It could also help to target stop and search to further increase its effectiveness." More on this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8089959.stm
British scientists have developed a portable microwave scanner which could help identify individuals carrying concealed guns and knives. Unlike existing scanning systems, it does not need to be used in close proximity of suspects.
Unlike airport scanners, the portable machine does not produce an image of the subject, it only analyses signals. It is designed to work out on the streets and is not restricted to a closed, controlled environment.
A human operator would transport the device, using it to direct microwave emission at a person of interest. Return signals - microwaves reflected back towards the device - are picked up, sensed and analysed. The device, which is under development at Manchester Metropolitan University, could help increase the effectiveness of stop-and-search. The existing prototype is suitable for the detection of guns, but researchers say subsequent versions of the technology will be able to identify concealed knives as well. This kind of device would be of great service to officers, helping them to catch people carrying guns and knives without putting themselves in increased danger. It could also help to target stop and search to further increase its effectiveness." More on this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8089959.stm
Ingenious new bullet tagging technology
Criminals who use firearms may find it much harder to evade justice in future, thanks to a new bullet tagging technology developed in the UK.
The tiny tags – just 30 microns* in diameter and invisible to the naked eye – are designed to be coated onto gun cartridges. They then attach themselves to the hands or gloves of anyone handling the cartridge and are very difficult to wash off completely.
Some of these 'nanotags' also remain on the cartridge even after it has been fired. This should make it possible to establish a robust forensic link between a cartridge fired during a crime and whoever handled it. "The tags primarily consist of naturally-occurring pollen, a substance that evolution has provided with extraordinary adhesive properties," says Professor Paul Sermon from the University of Surrey, who has led the research. "It has been given a unique chemical signature by coating it with titanium oxide, zirconia, silica or a mixture of other oxides. The precise composition of this coating can be varied subtly from one batch of cartridges to another, enabling a firm connection to be made between a particular fired cartridge and its user."
In addition to this breakthrough, the team has also developed a method of trapping forensically-useful amounts of DNA on gun cartridges. It involves increasing the abrasive character of the cartridge case with micro-patterned pyramid textures, or adding an abrasive grit, held in place by a thin layer of resin, to the cartridge base. This rough surface is able to retain dead skin cells from a thumb as it loads a cartridge into a firearm. A key benefit is also the affordability – a cost-effective way of reliably capturing sufficient DNA from a gun cartridge has never been available before. The technology has been designed to avoid damage to the DNA captured which is caused (i) by temperatures generated as the gun is fired, when heat is rapidly transferred from the burning propellant into the cartridge case and (ii) when copper is extracted from the cartridge case by lactic acid in sweat.
The nanotag and DNA capture technologies could potentially be available for use within as little as 12 months. There may also be scope to apply them in other fields, such as knife crime, in future.more on this article:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/eaps-got080108.php
Criminals who use firearms may find it much harder to evade justice in future, thanks to a new bullet tagging technology developed in the UK.
The tiny tags – just 30 microns* in diameter and invisible to the naked eye – are designed to be coated onto gun cartridges. They then attach themselves to the hands or gloves of anyone handling the cartridge and are very difficult to wash off completely.
Some of these 'nanotags' also remain on the cartridge even after it has been fired. This should make it possible to establish a robust forensic link between a cartridge fired during a crime and whoever handled it. "The tags primarily consist of naturally-occurring pollen, a substance that evolution has provided with extraordinary adhesive properties," says Professor Paul Sermon from the University of Surrey, who has led the research. "It has been given a unique chemical signature by coating it with titanium oxide, zirconia, silica or a mixture of other oxides. The precise composition of this coating can be varied subtly from one batch of cartridges to another, enabling a firm connection to be made between a particular fired cartridge and its user."
In addition to this breakthrough, the team has also developed a method of trapping forensically-useful amounts of DNA on gun cartridges. It involves increasing the abrasive character of the cartridge case with micro-patterned pyramid textures, or adding an abrasive grit, held in place by a thin layer of resin, to the cartridge base. This rough surface is able to retain dead skin cells from a thumb as it loads a cartridge into a firearm. A key benefit is also the affordability – a cost-effective way of reliably capturing sufficient DNA from a gun cartridge has never been available before. The technology has been designed to avoid damage to the DNA captured which is caused (i) by temperatures generated as the gun is fired, when heat is rapidly transferred from the burning propellant into the cartridge case and (ii) when copper is extracted from the cartridge case by lactic acid in sweat.
The nanotag and DNA capture technologies could potentially be available for use within as little as 12 months. There may also be scope to apply them in other fields, such as knife crime, in future.more on this article:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/eaps-got080108.php
NASA 'Shoots' for Crime Investigators with New Technology
What do a NASA engineer and a detective have in common? The answer is a new NASA photographic laser device that helps look for damages on NASA’s Space Shuttle that can also be used to "shoot" more details in crime scenes. The Laser Scaling Device attaches directly to a camera and projects a pattern of dots into the field of view. This pattern appears in the photograph along with the image of the object under investigation, enabling the viewer to measure the size of the object. The greatest contribution that the Laser Scaling Measurement software offers to law enforcement is it ‘un-cuffs’ the investigators hands with digital image evidence by facilitating fast and accurate measurement analysis of anything in a crime scene photo, not just the intended target. This aspect opens up the possibility for serendipitous evidence detection after the fact that may not have been obvious at the crime scene. For example, the software may be instrumental in attaining dimensions of articles or their proximity locations within a room that were not previously part of the investigation.Not only can they use it to fully view photos of components from crime scenes such as blood-spatter pattern and graffiti, but can also see the images from different angles (including diagonally, horizontally and vertically) to better analyze and understand the scenes.In fact, just recently, Ballard was asked by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to add more capabilities to the LSMDPI software to enable forensics experts to zoom in and out of the image to measure blood spatter details across a wall as well as specific areas. more on this article http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2005/crime_technology.html
What do a NASA engineer and a detective have in common? The answer is a new NASA photographic laser device that helps look for damages on NASA’s Space Shuttle that can also be used to "shoot" more details in crime scenes. The Laser Scaling Device attaches directly to a camera and projects a pattern of dots into the field of view. This pattern appears in the photograph along with the image of the object under investigation, enabling the viewer to measure the size of the object. The greatest contribution that the Laser Scaling Measurement software offers to law enforcement is it ‘un-cuffs’ the investigators hands with digital image evidence by facilitating fast and accurate measurement analysis of anything in a crime scene photo, not just the intended target. This aspect opens up the possibility for serendipitous evidence detection after the fact that may not have been obvious at the crime scene. For example, the software may be instrumental in attaining dimensions of articles or their proximity locations within a room that were not previously part of the investigation.Not only can they use it to fully view photos of components from crime scenes such as blood-spatter pattern and graffiti, but can also see the images from different angles (including diagonally, horizontally and vertically) to better analyze and understand the scenes.In fact, just recently, Ballard was asked by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to add more capabilities to the LSMDPI software to enable forensics experts to zoom in and out of the image to measure blood spatter details across a wall as well as specific areas. more on this article http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2005/crime_technology.html
Future Technology
With so many advancements in the past 30 years, there is no way to put a limit on where police work will go in the next 30 years.
With so many advancements in the past 30 years, there is no way to put a limit on where police work will go in the next 30 years.
- There are many technologies in biometrics expected to be the next thing to gain a following.
- That includes facial-recognition software to identify suspects and retinal scanning, which can aid as a security device.
- Gait recognition, another technology, deals with identifying a person’s pattern of walk.
- Touch DNA is a technology that would help identify a suspect from DNA on any object they touch at a crime scene. It’s a few years down the road.
- Most recently, police departments started implementing a new data-mining tool called WebFOCUS, which allows law enforcement officers in multiple jurisdictions to cross-reference crimes daily to find trends.
- Another technology, the automated vehicle location system, allows officers’ whereabouts to be monitored through a global positioning system. In return, dispatchers can direct officers to calls more efficiently.
- more on this article: http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090111/LOCAL/901110393/1002/local
Keyence: microscopy in the palm of your hand
For the forensic scientist on the go, Keyence Corp. of Osaka, Japan, offers a 3-D digital microscope that isn’t chained to the crime lab worktable. “Unlike conventional microscopes,” said Leila Javidi, applications engineer for the company’s Micro Analysis Group in Chicago, “the VHX-600 has a handheld camera, enabling anyone to take the microscope out to the field and make their observations outside of a laboratory setting.”
Javidi said the magnification powers of the VHX-600 range from 0.1× to 5000×, and the built-in camera can capture 54-megapixel images as well as video. The stage can rotate 360°, and the camera can be tilted almost 180° from side to side.
“By doing this,” Javidi said, “we can see almost around the entire part without touching or mounting the part.” The light source has been integrated into the tip of the lens, she added, “to ensure optimal reproducible lighting.”
The 3-D profile capabilities of the VHX-600 allow for more sophisticated measurement of evidence specimens. “Perhaps you need to measure the depth of a crack in a sample,” Javidi said. “The 3-D profiling and measurements eliminate the guesswork and enable this analysis.”
http://www.photonics.com/Content/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=36341
Javidi said the magnification powers of the VHX-600 range from 0.1× to 5000×, and the built-in camera can capture 54-megapixel images as well as video. The stage can rotate 360°, and the camera can be tilted almost 180° from side to side.
“By doing this,” Javidi said, “we can see almost around the entire part without touching or mounting the part.” The light source has been integrated into the tip of the lens, she added, “to ensure optimal reproducible lighting.”
The 3-D profile capabilities of the VHX-600 allow for more sophisticated measurement of evidence specimens. “Perhaps you need to measure the depth of a crack in a sample,” Javidi said. “The 3-D profiling and measurements eliminate the guesswork and enable this analysis.”
http://www.photonics.com/Content/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=36341
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Research and Development
RSID-Urine: an addition to our existing line of rapid stain identification product, RSID-Urine is in development. For purely technical reasons, this test will use polyclonal antibodies for the detection of human urine. The laboratory is working to complete development and testing of this product. Anticipated release, Q1,2009.Laser Capture Microdissection: This technique has the potential to dramatically increase the success rate of obtaining a CODIS quality DNA-STR profile from sexual assault evidence. In conjunction with P.A.L.M./Zeiss, Independent Forensics is developing the procedures, protocols, methods and kits that will be required to make this research quality instrument into arobust, reproducible work-horse for the forensic laboratory. Laser capture microdissection kits will of course make use of SPERM HY-LITER technology for the identification of sperm.
Technical Improvements in the Future
There are two general kinds of improvements that can be expected:
The first of these is better techniques applied to existing systems, STRs in particular. We can expect more foolproof systems that can provide unambiguous tests for more loci at once. Even now, some systems have added additional loci to the Core 13. This surely will continue. We can expect more automation; it is already happening. There will be more integration of computerized analysis with the laboratory tests. Capillary electrophoresis will require less material and produce faster results. We can also expect miniaturization with attendant portability. I recently read of a hand-held chipthat will analyze 8 STRs in a few minutes. We can foresee the time when analysis can take place at the crime scene. If immediate results are produced this can provide prompt clearance of erroneously identified suspects, avoiding much needless apprehension. I would emphasize, however, that what can be done in pilot experiments will usually not be good enough for forensic use, for which a system must be thoroughly tested and validated.
The first of these is better techniques applied to existing systems, STRs in particular. We can expect more foolproof systems that can provide unambiguous tests for more loci at once. Even now, some systems have added additional loci to the Core 13. This surely will continue. We can expect more automation; it is already happening. There will be more integration of computerized analysis with the laboratory tests. Capillary electrophoresis will require less material and produce faster results. We can also expect miniaturization with attendant portability. I recently read of a hand-held chipthat will analyze 8 STRs in a few minutes. We can foresee the time when analysis can take place at the crime scene. If immediate results are produced this can provide prompt clearance of erroneously identified suspects, avoiding much needless apprehension. I would emphasize, however, that what can be done in pilot experiments will usually not be good enough for forensic use, for which a system must be thoroughly tested and validated.
Future of Forensics
EPSRC Crime Prevention and Detection Technologies Event:Forensic ScienceImproved fingerprint recovery from metals such as gun cartridges and bomb fragments
Using the chemistry of colour to identify chemical and biological weapons
Portable DNA profiling techniques that could be used at the scene of a crime
More accurate ways of ascertaining the age at death of victims of crime
Latest developments in scanning and sensing technology that are improving the detection of drugs and explosives at security check points
These are just some of the current research areas being supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. This event will focus on the contribution that EPSRC-funded science and engineering is making to the development of forensic science.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Forensics Standardization
Here's is the introduction to very interesting article on the state of forensics and how the field needs to be changed for the future(link to the full article in title):
Professor of Medical Science Constantine Gatsonis co-chaired a committee appointed by the National Academy of Sciences in 2007, and presented a report, entitled "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward," to Congress last month. Congress mandated the study after receiving several complaints from individuals in the forensic science community about discrepancies in techniques and procedures, Gatsonis said. Over the course of eight meetings, the committee examined documents, procedures and educational programs across the country. It also received presentations from chiefs of laboratories, coroners, medical examiners and members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The report made 13 recommendations to improve forensic science, the most important being the establishment of a national institute for the discipline, according to Gatsonis.
DNA links to your surname
New research out of the United Kingdom is finding that a mans DNA can be linked to his surname using the Y chromosome. The current research has a relatively small success rate with common names and has a much greater success rate with rare ones. (Like in title)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Forensic Technology Widens Net for Drugs of Abuse: The Rise of LC/MS/MS for Toxicology Testing
Everyone outside the toxicology field seems to believe the forensic toxicology laboratory can identify any drug or compound of interest with a simple push of a button.
Popular belief is that a lab can obtain an unknown sample, analyze it, and have a report printed out – complete with pictures, graphs, chemical structures, and compound identifications – in a matter of minutes.
However, those of us in the field know that the challenges many forensic toxicology labs include: limited resources, increasing demands, emergence of new “designer” drugs, and an increasingly larger number of samples being submitted for analysis.
Toxicology results and scientific evidence are getting more scrutiny than ever before. The criminal justice system increasingly relies on the output of forensic toxicology laboratories to provide evidence relevant to forensic cases, including homicides, sexual assaults, and impaired driving linked to fatalities.
http://www.forensicmag.com/articles.asp?pid=169
Popular belief is that a lab can obtain an unknown sample, analyze it, and have a report printed out – complete with pictures, graphs, chemical structures, and compound identifications – in a matter of minutes.
However, those of us in the field know that the challenges many forensic toxicology labs include: limited resources, increasing demands, emergence of new “designer” drugs, and an increasingly larger number of samples being submitted for analysis.
Toxicology results and scientific evidence are getting more scrutiny than ever before. The criminal justice system increasingly relies on the output of forensic toxicology laboratories to provide evidence relevant to forensic cases, including homicides, sexual assaults, and impaired driving linked to fatalities.
http://www.forensicmag.com/articles.asp?pid=169
The future of DNA
The link in the title of this post is a publication from the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence. This group of experts from around the DNA industry has generated a report of their prediction for the future of DNA evidence. Although this report is starting to get outdated there are still some predictions of the future that are very interesting.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
XBox Forensics
A forensics toolkit for the Xbox gaming console is described by US researchers in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics. The toolkit could allow law enforcement agencies to scour the inbuilt hard disk of such devices and find illicit hidden materials easily.
Criminals often hide illicit data on the XBox in the hope that a gaming console will not be seen as a likely evidence target especially when conventional personal computers are present in the same premises, for instance. The toolkit developed by Collins will allow police and other investigators the chance to lay bare the contents of XBox hard disks.
Cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, game consoles and other devices provide a convenient means to store data of all kinds, including images, video, audio and text files. But they also provide a simple way for criminals to possess and hide illegal material too
Inderscience Publishers. "XBox Forensics." ScienceDaily 1 May 2009. 4 August 2009.
Criminals often hide illicit data on the XBox in the hope that a gaming console will not be seen as a likely evidence target especially when conventional personal computers are present in the same premises, for instance. The toolkit developed by Collins will allow police and other investigators the chance to lay bare the contents of XBox hard disks.
Cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, game consoles and other devices provide a convenient means to store data of all kinds, including images, video, audio and text files. But they also provide a simple way for criminals to possess and hide illegal material too
Inderscience Publishers. "XBox Forensics." ScienceDaily 1 May 2009. 4 August 2009
3D crime scene scanner
Some future jurors can expect to be dazzled in the courtroom by a remarkable technology making evidence more evident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRDuA6_LxLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRDuA6_LxLc
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Predicting Future Crime Is it Ethical?
The Philadelphia Police Department is experimenting with an advanced computing system that statisticians and criminologists believe can predict future violent crime with some accuracy. Using a learning computer, the city is working to predict which of the city's 49,000 parolees are most likely to commit violent crimes in the future.The predictors that mattered most were age, age at first contact with adult courts, prior crimes involving guns, being male, and past violent crimes. Officials considered including race in the equation - an extremely scary thought - but decided against it. There may be other questionable factors included in the computer's calculations.While this system raises some serious red flags, it also has potential to improve the efficiency of our parole system if it is used with restraint. But there are major concerns about the new system: it could lead us to spend too much energy on "high-risk" parolees and ignore the needs of "low-risk" people, denying them opportunities for support and services. And would an increased reliance on this system mean more minor technical violations for parolees considered high-risk?
"The main ethical concern," said Richard Bonnie, a law professor at the University of Virginia, "is the possible unfairness to the 'selected' offenders."
If the high-risk people do get more supervision, it means they face a greater risk of being caught in a technical violation that will send them back to prison. Should such power be relegated to a computer?
The experimental results from Philly:
To "train" the system, (University of California statistician Richard) Berk fed in data on 30,000 past cases; about 1 percent had committed homicide or attempted homicide within two years of beginning probation or parole.
The data included the number and types of past crimes, sex, race, income, and other factors.
To test its power, he fed in a different set of data on 30,000 other parolees. This time he didn't tell the computer who would go on to kill.
Applying what it had previously learned, the system identified a group of several hundred who were considered especially dangerous. Of those, 45 in 100 did commit a homicide or attempted homicide within two years - much higher than the 1 in 100 among the general population of probationers and parolees. http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/predicting_future_crime
Forensic Watermarks in Mobile Devices
The most common way to deter illegal distribution of music and movies is through digital rights management technology (DRM): instructions embedded in the files that limit their use. But, as video content shows up on more and more cell phones, content providers are looking for new ways to curb illegal distribution. Researchers at Cinea, are working on a system that embeds a unique digital signature called a forensic watermark into a video after it's downloaded. The watermark contains bits of data, hidden from view, that allow content providers to trace a video back to the phone or device on which it was downloaded. The goals are to deter people from widely distributing a downloaded video and to have a method of finding individuals who illegally share video. Securing forensic watermarks is still an active area of research, and perfecting the technology is still a few years out. Within the next decade, technology can change the way content providers protect their digital goods and the way people share and use them. http://www.technologyreview.com/business/17879/page2/
The most common way to deter illegal distribution of music and movies is through digital rights management technology (DRM): instructions embedded in the files that limit their use. But, as video content shows up on more and more cell phones, content providers are looking for new ways to curb illegal distribution. Researchers at Cinea, are working on a system that embeds a unique digital signature called a forensic watermark into a video after it's downloaded. The watermark contains bits of data, hidden from view, that allow content providers to trace a video back to the phone or device on which it was downloaded. The goals are to deter people from widely distributing a downloaded video and to have a method of finding individuals who illegally share video. Securing forensic watermarks is still an active area of research, and perfecting the technology is still a few years out. Within the next decade, technology can change the way content providers protect their digital goods and the way people share and use them. http://www.technologyreview.com/business/17879/page2/
Future Cops: Laser-guided GPS to Catch Criminals
A suspected felon flees from the Police.
Rather than engage him in a dangerous, high-speed chase, the police pursue the suspect for just a few blocks.
Then the cops tag his car with a laser-guided, GPS tracking system, launched from the front grille of the squad car and guided by a laser-sight targeting system.
Once the "sticky" transmitter attaches to the fleeing car, the police track the suspect via real-time feeds over a wireless network. They drop back, and let the crook slow down. When he stops, the cops speed up, and nab the lawbreaker as he is leaving his car.
This technology will potentially give police officers yet another tool to minimize the damaging risks associated with high-speed pursuits. The developer, StarChase, LLC, is moving forward with plans to commercialize the technology and is aiming to bring the product to market early next year. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312953,00.html
A suspected felon flees from the Police.
Rather than engage him in a dangerous, high-speed chase, the police pursue the suspect for just a few blocks.
Then the cops tag his car with a laser-guided, GPS tracking system, launched from the front grille of the squad car and guided by a laser-sight targeting system.
Once the "sticky" transmitter attaches to the fleeing car, the police track the suspect via real-time feeds over a wireless network. They drop back, and let the crook slow down. When he stops, the cops speed up, and nab the lawbreaker as he is leaving his car.
This technology will potentially give police officers yet another tool to minimize the damaging risks associated with high-speed pursuits. The developer, StarChase, LLC, is moving forward with plans to commercialize the technology and is aiming to bring the product to market early next year. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312953,00.html
The Future of Forensic Science: In 2007, University at Buffalo computer scientist Sargur Srihari, Ph.D., was selected by the National Academy of Sciences to explore the current status of the forensic sciences and to guide future research that would best serve the U.S. justice system and its citizens.
Dr. Sargur Srihari explains how science will be applied to forensics in the future. "Given sufficient time and resources, specific intelligent tasks that humans perform can be automated. One of the areas that I hope we will be able to develop is something I call "computational forensics." It is about developing algorithms and software to perform forensic analysis. The results of such analysis will be less prone to criticism that forensic testimony is tainted by bias. My research for the past 30 years has been in the field of computer science known as "pattern recognition." It is an area of artificial intelligence that is about developing algorithms to get computers to perform cognitive tasks normally performed by skilled humans. An example of such a skill is that of recognizing handwriting. The first task we considered was developing algorithms to compare handwriting samples. Computers allowed us to perform large-scale tests to show that indeed this kind of comparison can be done with a high degree of accuracy (Journal of Forensic Sciences, July 2002). We were also able to develop computational tools to assist the handwriting examiners.
Then my colleagues and I at CEDAR decided to look at fingerprints, specifically friction ridge patterns, the swirling lines that make up the print. With high-speed computers, we found we were able to conduct large-scale tests to determine the degree of individuality and uniqueness in a given fingerprint."
http://www.buffalo.edu/news/9915
Dr. Sargur Srihari explains how science will be applied to forensics in the future. "Given sufficient time and resources, specific intelligent tasks that humans perform can be automated. One of the areas that I hope we will be able to develop is something I call "computational forensics." It is about developing algorithms and software to perform forensic analysis. The results of such analysis will be less prone to criticism that forensic testimony is tainted by bias. My research for the past 30 years has been in the field of computer science known as "pattern recognition." It is an area of artificial intelligence that is about developing algorithms to get computers to perform cognitive tasks normally performed by skilled humans. An example of such a skill is that of recognizing handwriting. The first task we considered was developing algorithms to compare handwriting samples. Computers allowed us to perform large-scale tests to show that indeed this kind of comparison can be done with a high degree of accuracy (Journal of Forensic Sciences, July 2002). We were also able to develop computational tools to assist the handwriting examiners.
Then my colleagues and I at CEDAR decided to look at fingerprints, specifically friction ridge patterns, the swirling lines that make up the print. With high-speed computers, we found we were able to conduct large-scale tests to determine the degree of individuality and uniqueness in a given fingerprint."
http://www.buffalo.edu/news/9915
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