Priority Action Report 

Friction Ridge Subcommittee 

SAC Physics/Pattern 

Henry Swofford, Chair 

August 1, 2018 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Subcommittee Leadership 

• Chair: Henry Swofford 

• Defense Forensic Science Center 

• Term expiration September 30, 2020 

• Email: Henry.J.Swofford.Civ@mail.mil 

• Vice Chair: Thomas Wortman 

• Defense Forensic Science Center 

• Term expiration September 30, 2018 

• Email: Thomas.M.Wortman.Civ@mail.mil 

• Executive Secretary: Maria Ruggiero 

• Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office 

• Term expiration September 30, 2019 

• Email: mcruggie@lasd.org 

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Subcommittee Membership 

• Black, John P. Black & White Forensics, LLC 2018 john@bwforensics.com 

• Brock, Steven Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office 2018 Steve.Brock@shf.sccgov.org 

• Connelly, Joshua Douglas County Sheriff 2019 joshua.connelly@douglascounty-ne.gov 

• Eldridge, Heidi RTI 2019 heidi.eldridge@icloud.com 

• Fontaine, Liz FBI Laboratory 2020 ekfontaine@fbi.gov 

• French, Michael, K. MorphoTrak, LLC 2018 michael.french@idemia.com 

• German, Edward R. Macon County Sheriff's Office 2018 ed.german@sheriff-macon-il.us 

• Hall, Carey Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension 2019 carey.hall@state.mn.us 

• Hornickel, Mandi Illinois State Police 2020 Mandi_hornickel@isp.state.il.us 

• Kriel, Louis Georgia Bureau of Investigation 2020 louis.kriel@gbi.ga.gov 

• Lavine, Michael Umass Amhearst 2020 lavine@math.umass.edu 

• Ruggiero, Maria C. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department 2019 mcruggie@lasd.org 

• Schwarz, Matthew T. Schwarz Forensic Enterprises, Inc. 2019 matt@schwarzforensic.com 

• Smith, Ron Ron Smith & Associates, Inc. 2020 ron@ronsmithandassociates.com 

• Speckels, Carl City of Phoenix Crime Laboratory 2020 carl.speckels@phoenix.gov 

• Swofford, Henry J. Defense Forensic Science Center 2020 Henry.j.Swofford.civ@mail.mil 

• Tabassi, Elham National Institute of Standards and Technology 2018 elham.tabassi@nist.gov 

• White, Alice Evolve Forensics, LLC 2020 alicevirginiawhite@gmail.com 

• Wortman, Thomas M. Defense Forensic Science Center 2018 thomas.m.wortman.civ@mail.mil 

• Zinn, Lisa M. Orange County Sheriff's Crime Laboratory 2019 lzinn@occl.ocgov.com 

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Subcommittee Breakdown 

Category Target Current

Practitioner Total 14 70% 17 85% 

Federal 4 20% 3 15% 

State and Local 6 30% 9 45% 

Civil and Other 4 20% 4 20% 

Researchers and Scientists 4 20% 3 15% 

R&D Technology 2 10% 1 5% 

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Scope

The Friction Ridge Subcommittee will

focus on standards and guidelines related

to the forensic examination of friction ridge

detail from the hands and feet. 

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Roadmap

• Current Strategic Priority: 

• Promulgation of standards and guidelines related to the examination, 

interpretation, and reporting of friction ridge evidence Focus 

Personnel 

Quality Assurance 

Testing/Examination 

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Documents Completed (at SDO) 

•Standard for Friction Ridge Examination Conclusions 

• Standard for Friction Ridge Examination Training 

•Guideline for the Articulation of the Decision-Making

Process Leading to an Expert Opinion of Source

Identification in Friction Ridge Examinations 

• Document drafts publically available online: 

• https://www.nist.gov/topics/forensic-science/friction-ridge- subcommittee 

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Update • Standard for Conclusions 

• Defines terms and qualitative expressions of source 

conclusions that may be reached following friction ridge 

comparisons. 

• Five conclusion scale 

• Source Exclusion 

• Support for different sources 

• Inconclusive/Lacking Support 

• Support for same source 

• Source Identification 

• Source Identification: 

• Strongest degree of association between two friction ridge impressions 

• Expressed as a “strength of evidence” statement 

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Update • Standard for Conclusions 

• Source Identification: The strongest degree of association between

two friction ridge impressions. It is the conclusion that the observations 

provide extremely strong support for the proposition that the 

impressions originated from the same source and extremely weak

support for the proposition that the impressions originated from different 

sources. 

• Source Identification is reached when the friction ridge impressions

have corresponding ridge detail and the examiner would not expect to 

see the same arrangement of details repeated in an impression that

came from a different source. 

• Qualifications & Limitations: An examiner shall not assert that a 

source identification is the conclusion that two impressions were made

by the same source or imply an individualization to the exclusion of all

other sources. 

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Documents in Progress 

• Examination Method 

• Analysis 

• Comparison/Evaluation 

• Consultation 

• Verification 

• Technical Review 

• Reporting Results 

• Conflict Resolution 

• ACE-V Process Map 

• ABIS Best Practices 

• Terminology 

Image license free for public share and use from pixabay.com 

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Current Research Needs 

• ACE-V Bias 

• Assessing the Sufficiency and Strength of Friction Ridge 

Features 

• Close Non-Match Assessment 

• Examiner Consistency During Friction Ridge Feature Mark-Up 

• Friction Ridge Statistical Modeling 

• Latent Fingerprint Image Quality Usage 

• Research needs publically available online: 

• https://www.nist.gov/topics/forensic-science/osac-research- development-needs 

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Additional Items of Interest 

• OSAC FRS Response to PCAST 

• OSAC FRS Response to the DoJ Proposed Uniform Language

for Testimony and Reports 

• OSAC FRS Response to the DoJ Forensic Science Discipline

Reviews 

• Discipline-Specific Baseline Documents (i.e. legacy SWGFAST

documents) 

• Documents publically available online: 

• https://www.nist.gov/topics/forensic-science/friction-ridgesubcommittee 

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PSAC: 15

General Process 

PSAC: 15 

FRSC TG: 3-5 FRSC: 20 FRSC: 20 

RCs: 62 

SDO 

QIRC: 15 

HFC: 11 LRC: 11 

STG: 25 

FRSC: 20 

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Visit us online! 

https://www.nist.gov/topics/forensic-science/friction-ridge-subcommittee

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