A large-scale research study into the reliability of processes and methodologies used for latent fingerprint examinations has found very low error rates by examiners.Conducted by the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Forensic Services Bureau, the study evaluated the Analysis, Comparison, and Evaluation (ACE) and Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, and Verification (ACE-V) methodologies used in latent fingerprint examinations.The research team, from the Miami-Dade Police Department Forensic Services Bureau Fingerprint Identification Section, tested the accuracy of 109 fingerprint examiners from 76 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies from across the United States.Examiners were presented with a variety of comparison challenges with varying degrees of difficulty The study also measured how often individual examiners repeated their own decisions and how often different examiners came to the same conclusion.When decisions were verified by an independent reviewer, examiners had a 0% false positive, or incorrect identification, rate and a 3% false negative, or missed identification, rate. The study was funded by the Office of Justice Programs' National Institute of Justice (NIJ).”The results from the Miami-Dade team address the accuracy, reliability, and validity in the forensic science disciplines, a need that was identified in the 2009 National Academies report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward.” said Gerald LaPorte, Director of NIJ's Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences.
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