The effect was to cut the time taken to process fingerprint lifts and gain results from the database, from days to hours. Identifying fingerprints at such an early stage in a criminal investigation clearly has huge benefits, meaning that there is more chance of quickly identifying and apprehending offenders.


Ian Gledhill, Lincolnshire Police's Head of Fingerprints explained, "Following our extensive work developing the system, working with Sheffield University on the software, we went through rigorous tests with the Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) in order to gain Home Office approval". "The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) were so impressed by the potential of the technology, that they initiated a project to roll it out to all forces". "I'm currently supporting them with the roll out, working towards the deadline of March 2009 for all forces to be on board in some capacity".


West Midlands Police is the first metropolitan force to implement remote fingerprint transmissions, and their results so far have been impressive. Richard Small,


Acting Head of Fingerprint Bureau at West Midlands Police says, "Overall, Remote Transmission has provided West Midlands forensic services with a process that allows us to identify fingerprints from scenes within minutes". "Prior to this it was taking on average 7-8 days to receive the physical lift”. “Therefore efficiency savings are obvious".


He went on to provide the following examples of its use:




Robbery


Offenders attended the location and knocked on the door, presenting flowers to the victim. They have then used bodily pressure to force their way past the victim into the house. The victim's hair was pulled and she was tied up with tape. The house was ransacked and property was stolen including jewellery, mobile phones and perfume.


The lifts were scanned from Scenes of Crime Officers at 1500hrs on the 30/01/2008


The identification was e-mailed to back to investigating officers by 1630hrs on the 30/01/2008.


The offender arrested the following day.




Unidentified Body


A dead body that could not be identified due to head injuries had the Fingerprints taken by the Forensic scene Investigator and submitted to the Fingerprint Bureau using Live Remote Transfer. Within 1 hour these impressions had been identified and returned by to the officer to make a positive identification against the body and inform the relatives.




Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Hayward, Head of Lincolnshire Police’s Crime Support department, said “Lincolnshire Police have been at the forefront of developing this technology, which has enabled our forensic teams to support investigations and increase chances of detections”. “The outcome of their hard work is that we have made enormous improvements to our previous processes, which in turn has led to direct benefits for investigating officers”.