Examination of Firearms Review: 2007 to 2010 - Interpol

chapter (17). Finally, a chapter on the photography of marks, impressions and
documents is included (18) in this Encyclopedia.
The field of biometrics is closely related to the topics under review. It is an impossible
exercise to incorporate in this review all the scientific work carried out in this area.
However a major Encyclopaedia has been published at Springer Verlag (19). An
overview of the forensic applications (20) along with specific chapters on fingerprints
(21-24), the Universal Latent Workstation (ULW) (25), cognitive processing in
fingerprint recognition (26), earprints (27) and footprints (28) are covered in this
Encyclopedia.
A biometric handbook (29) offers also a good overview of the challenges in
biometrics with one dedicated chapter on the relationships between forensic science
and biometry (30). Another handbook but on forensic science (31) brings an overview
chapter on fingerprints with specific emphasis on the situation in the UK (32).
The forensic science landscape will certainly change after the publication of the US
National Research Council of the National Academies (33). The report highlights
some major causes of concern with regards to impression evidence (including friction
ridge skin), to name a few: disparate training schemes, large subjectivity in the
comparison protocol, recent cases of misattributions, evidence of cognitive bias and
reporting practices that are tainted by a myth of infallibility. There is an urgent need to
deal with some of the issues and ultimately increase transparency and accountability.
The recent conference by the chairman of the committee, Judge H. T. Edwards,
gives a very specific picture of the current situation with regards to the NRC report
(34). An element of warning though: the report deals essentially with the state of
affairs in the USA and does not necessarily reflect the situation in other countries.
We can expect more contributions attempting to make explicit the complex set of
psychological and cognitive processes involved in the identification process. The
recent paper by Busey and Parada is a good example (35). Likewise, it is expected
that the amount of statistical research devoted to these fields will still increase. The
forthcoming paper by Neumann et al. (36) should provide the statistical foundation to
the operational assessment tool developed by the Forensic Science Service in the
UK.
The NRC report received a very important press coverage including the most
prestigious scientific journals such as Nature (37, 38) or Science (39). Professional
organisations have reacted to the NRC report. We will retain here for example the
statement by SWGFAST (Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study
and Technology) (40). The IAI (International Association for Identification) also
published a reaction to the NRC report. Here, the different recommendations in the
report are reviewed from the association's point of view (41). The IAI furthermore
sent a memo to its members, stating its support to many of the recommendations
included in the report, cautioning against asserting “100% infallibility (zero error rate)”
also advising its members not to state “their conclusions in absolute terms when
dealing with population issues” (42). During the 2010 IAI conference in Spokane, the
membership, following the recommandation of the Standardisation II committee,
approved to rescind Resolution 1979-7 and Resolution 1980-5 (that prohibited
examiners from providing less than certain testimony) and adopt a resolution
acknowledging the recent progresses in fingerprint statistics: “The use of
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