IAI CLPE case studies
IAI CLPE · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The IAI Certified Latent Print Examiner (CLPE) credential is offered through the certification program of the International Association for Identification, which describes itself as the oldest and largest forensic association in the world. The IAI states that its membership is assembled to educate, share, critique and publish methods, techniques and research in the physical forensic science disciplines, and it lists Latent Print among its certification disciplines alongside Bloodstain Pattern, Crime Scene, Footwear, Forensic Art, Forensic Photography & Imaging, Forensic Video and Tenprint Fingerprint. The IAI CLPE case studies are 5 cases and about 4,519 words.
1Nine Minutiae, One Disputed: Resolving a Verification Conflict
L-1 is a black-powder lift from the chrome grab bar of a shower enclosure in an assault case. The lift measures 14 by 22 mm and shows a partial right loop with nine features that Examiner R considers clear.
942 words, about 5 min2Cyanoacrylate Fuming by Non-Laboratory Personnel on a Porous Document
A two-page ransom note on yellow legal paper was recovered in an envelope. Before it reached the laboratory, a patrol sergeant placed both pages in a plastic tote with two packets of cyanoacrylate and a cup of warm water, fumed the pages for approximately 40 minutes, saw a partial print on page 1, photographed it with a phone, and returned the pages to the envelope.
861 words, about 4 min3A Resealed Evidence Envelope and an Unlabeled Lift Card
Lift card L-3, taken from a window frame in a residential burglary, arrived at the laboratory in a manila envelope sealed with evidence tape bearing the initials 'JM' and a date. The tape had been cut through and resealed with a different brand of tape, with no additional initials or date.
926 words, about 5 min4A Faint Blood Transfer on Cotton: DNA Versus Ridge Enhancement
A light blue cotton T-shirt from a homicide scene has a faint red-brown transfer stain, roughly 40 by 25 mm, on the left sleeve. Under oblique white light the examiner sees what may be ridge detail in the centre of the stain, but the fabric weave is prominent and the stain is thin.
913 words, about 5 min5A Borderline Identification, No Available Verifier, and a Trial Date
Examiner P is the only CLPE in a three-person latent print unit. L-7 is a 6 by 8 mm partial lifted from an aluminum window frame; P develops it, compares it, and reaches an identification to a suspect on seven features.
877 words, about 4 min