Fingerprint Identification - Palm Print Recognition & Identification (Texas Forensic Associates)

This course is for criminal justice personnel, officers and laboratory technicians who work with friction ridge evidence. A basic knowledge of fingerprint recognition and identification is required.
No previous experience working with palm prints is necessary. The objective is to train the student in the recognition and identification of the friction ridge detail present on the palms.

The Palm Print Recognition and Identification Course is designed to give the student the ability to analyze partial latent palm impressions and make a determination of what region of which
hand the impressions are from. With this information now available to the examiner, their latent searches and individualizations will be faster and with more confidence. This will be accomplished by teaching the students the major and minor ridge flows, ridge characteristics, and crease formations present in palm prints. We will also discuss palm print documentation and terms that will greatly assist the examiner in writing ACE-V reports and testifying in court on palm impression identifications. The students will start working with whole palm impressions and though practical exercises, work their way down to smaller fragmented impressions with confidence.

The student must have completed a Basic Fingerprint Identification class prior to attending this program.

Dan Reigstad, retired in 2015 with over 22 years of service at the Longview Police Department. Dan was the Senior Latent Print Examiner in the Crime Laboratory. Dan is a Certified Latent Print Examiner with the International Association for Identification (IAI) and a registered “Fellow” with the Fingerprint Society of the
United Kingdom. He is the current Chairman of the Texas Division IAI Latent Print Certification Committee. He holds a Master Peace Officer Certificate and Advanced Instructor Certificate issued by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. He has testified as an expert witness throughout Texas in the field of fingerprint
evidence hundreds of times. Dan is now a staff instructor at the East Texas Police Academy at Kilgore College. His courses include Crime Scene Investigation and Friction Ridge Evidence.