Fingerprints aren't always accurate
How many times have you heard the statement that no two fingerprints are the same. Experts testify to that in courtrooms throughout the country on probably a daily basis. The validity of that assertion has been questioned in the last several years; as with other areas, it is a statement made without any scientific support.
No matter what your opinion of the validity of fingerprint analysis is, like anything else reliability is based on the person doing the examination. A report today issued by the Los Angeles police department details two cases involving faulty fingerprint analysis. In one case a person was charged with breaking into a store. In another case, a person was extradited from Alabama to face burglary charges after his prints were matched to those found at the scene. In both cases the analysis was reviewed and verified by another examiner.
According to the LAPD report, the fingerprint section was poorly run, and individuals were reviewing work and merely rubbers tamping it.Fortunately for the two individuals, the mistakes were caught. They must now try to determine whether other mistakes were made - common sense tells you there are probably other such errors.
This is one more incident which shows science is not infallible. Fingerprint examination is an entirely subjective discipline. As such, it hinges on the competence of the examiner. You would like to think all examiners are competent and take their jobs seriously, but we all knoow that is not the case in any profession.
The lesson from this story is that fingerprints, like anything else, should not be blindly accepted, even when they have been reviewed and verified by a nether examiner. If there is any doubt, an independent expert should be consulted. If we are going to send someone to prison based on the opinion of an expert, then we need to make sure it’s accurate
