This second of four appendixes of the Fingerprint Sourcebook (NCJ-249575) - which provides educational, training, and research information on fingerprint analysis for the international scientific community - reviews the origin of the Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST), which prepared an outline of the subjects that should be included in the Fingerprint Sourcebook.
The development of the field of DNA analysis led the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to establish a technical working group to develop best-practice guidelines for the forensic community. Because of the success of this program, in 1992 the FBI explored the development of additional technical working groups (TWGs) to support other forensic disciplines. Three members of the latent-print community were introduced to this initiative at a meeting with Kenneth Nimmich at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA. They agreed among themselves that they would support such a program for the latent-print discipline. The three worked for the FBI Laboratory, the Naval Investigative Services, and the Baltimore County Police Department (Maryland). On June 10, 1995, a group of 15 members of the latent-print forensic community composed the first meeting of what became known as the Technical Working Group on The Forensic Aspects of Friction Ridge Analysis. The names and positions of these 15 people are listed in this appendix. The group expected it would dissolve after it completed a set of guidelines for latent print practitioner knowledge, analytical methodology, and ability to perform friction-ridge examinations. The FBI determined, however, that established TWGs were to become long-term functioning bodies, and they were re-established as scientific working groups. In order to reflect this concept, the name of the latent-print TWG was officially adopted as the Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST).