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Old April 20th 18, 10:01 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
David_B
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Posts: 109
Default WhatsApp photo drug dealer caught by 'groundbreaking' work

On 20-Apr-18 9:25 PM, Savageduck wrote:
On Apr 20, 2018, David_B wrote
(in article ):

On 17-Apr-18 11:39 AM, David_B wrote:
A pioneering fingerprint technique used to convict a drugs gang from a
WhatsApp message "is the future" of how police approach evidence to
catch criminals.

An image of a man holding ecstasy tablets in his palm was found on the
mobile of someone arrested in Bridgend.

It was sent to South Wales Police's scientific support unit and helped
to secure 11 convictions.

These are believed to be the first convictions in Wales from
fingerprints taken from a photograph.

The unit's Dave Thomas described its use as "groundbreaking" and said
officers are now looking more closely at photographs on phones seized
for potential evidence.

'Ecstasy pills for sale' in WhatsApp message
Teens found selling drugs on Snapchat and Instagram
How drugs are offered on Instagram
He said: "It is an old-fashioned technique [fingerprinting], not new.

"Ultimately, beyond everything else, we took a phone and looked at
everything on it - we knew it had a hand with drugs on it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43711477


Did ANYONE watch this video?


Yes.


I'm pleased. :-)

This is 'cutting edge' photography and interpretation!


No. It was just another way to obtain a partial fingerprint, and to confirm
the identity of a subject.

Fingerprint ID in forensics has been viable concept since 1853. Charles
Darwin’s cousin, Sir Francis Galton studied the use of unique fingerprints
for identification in the 1880’s.

In 1891 an Argentine police official, Juan Vucetich created the first police
fingerprint files. In Buenos Aires in 1892 a Vucetich trainee, Inspector
Eduado Alvarez made the first criminal identification from a latent print at
a crime scene.

The fingerprint branch at New Scotland Yard was established in 1901. The New
York Service Commission, The NY State Prison system, and Leavenworth Federal
Penitentary started using fingerprints in 1903.

The US Army starts using fingerprints for ID, and the US Department of
Justice forms the Bureau of Criminal Identification, to create a centralized
reference collection of fingerprint cards in 1905. There was yet to be an
FBI.

In 1910 Fredrick Brayley published the first American text book on
fingerprints; “Arrangement of Fingerprints, Identification, and Their
Uses.”

Things have moved on since then with current advanced technology, so no, what
was used in that case was not ‘cutting edge’, just an opportunistic
windfall of evidence.


I appreciate your response and for the historical insights.

I personally believe that few criminals would have imagined that the
police could have identified someone from an online photograph of a hand!

--
David B.