SWGFAST TENPRINT STANDING COMMITTEE

The Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST) was formed to establish consensus guidelines and standards for the forensic examination of friction ridge impressions. To date, that has been limited to the concerns of the latent print community. Although it has been realized that there are areas of common interest to other fingerprint applications (e.g., criminal history and biometrics), existing SWGFAST guidelines were not developed with the intention of being applied to non-latent print related matters.

Individuals from the IAI and FBI CJIS, having realized a need to provide similar guidelines for the Tenprint community, contacted SWGFAST for assistance. At their request, consideration was given to having SWGFAST expand its role to include this aspect of the profession. This resulted in the decision to implement a Standing Tenprint Committee within SWGFAST.

To address this need, individuals whose primary responsibility is in performing tenprint examinations and have positions requiring knowledge of end-to-end tenprint operations will be added to the SWGFAST membership. Individuals possessing these qualifications that are interested in serving on the Standing Tenprint Committee must submit their letter of interest to SWGFAST Executive Secretary, Maggie Black (mab@fss.ocgov.com). The letter of interest is to be included as an attachment, in Word format, to the cover email.
 
Each letter must include your qualifications, experience, professional affiliations, and what you bring to the group. Within the letter, or as an attachment, you must include confirmation of your agency’s support for you to actively participate in this working group, along with their support for you to attend the meetings as scheduled (SWGFAST normally holds two one week meetings per year). Please note that the FBI sponsors SWGFAST and covers all permissible travel, lodging and meal expenses related to these meetings. They are prohibited from paying the expenses of other federal agency employees and for the travel cost of international members. Include in the email subject line and as a reference topic on the Letter of Interest: “SWGFAST Tenprint Committee Membership Application - 2007”. All submissions should be received no later than August 31, 2007. The selection process is expected to be completed by late September.

Questions can be directed to SWGFAST chairperson, Leonard Butt, at lbutt@mdsp.org.

Best Regards,
Leonard Butt
Chairperson