Fbi Biometric Center of Excellence

The FBI’s BCOE – located in Clarksburg, West Virginia – is the FBI’s program for exploring and advancing the use of new and enhanced biometric technologies and capabilities for integration into operations. Every day, the BCOE strives to deliver state-of-the-art biometric tools and technologies to law enforcement and intelligence personnel working in communities around the world.

Modalities (particular methods or procedures):

facial recognition voice recognition

palm print fingerprint

Iris scan DNA

Commonly implemented or studied biometric modalities include fingerprint, face, iris, voice, hand writer recognition, and hand geometry. There is not one biometric modality that is best for all implementations, and many factors must be taken into account when implementing a biometric device, including location, security risks, task (identification or verification), expected number of users, user circumstances, existing data, etc.

A facial recognition is an image of a suspect’s face, as described by an eye-witness of a crime. In the past, law enforces had to use artists to draw or paint the witness’s description of a suspect. Nowadays, the job can be done by computer. Many English-speaking countries use a softwa.re package called EFIT (Electronic Facial Identification Technique). It has a large database of different facial types from different races and ethnicities. A trained operator can use the system to produce an accurate facial composite based on a witness description. EFIT is unique because it also recognizes and includes the psychological factors that affect our ability to recognize and remember faces.

DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is genetic material in human cells – and the cells of all living organisms. It is present in every cell in the human body, and a person’s DNA is the same in every cell: the DNA in a person’s blood is the same as the DNA in his skin cells, saliva, and other biological material.

PROJECT WORK

• Read the text and learn the forensic terms by heart.

• Search the Internet and find out the images of described pieces of forensic equipment. Present them in class.

• What do you know about the following founding scientists? Match the scientists and their discoveries. Make a presentation about one of them.

1. Mathieu Orfila (1787-1853)	A. First to look into fingerprinting
2. Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914)	B. First to refine the science of bullet comparison
3. Francis Galton (1822-1911)	C. Father of toxicology
4. Calvin Goddard (1891-1955)	D. Authority on authenticating documents
5. Albert Osborn (1858-1946)	E. Developed the science of anthropometry

Review What You Learned

1. What is a crime scene?

2. What is a crime scene search?

3. What is evidence? What types of evidence do you know?

4. What kind of evidence is to be admissible?

5. Who is a SOCO? What is he (she) responsible for?

6. What requirements are to be observed by a SOCO to collect evidence properly?

7. Who is a forensic scientist? What does he (she) study?

8. What scientific methods could be used to investigate a crime?

Legal Skills in Action

G was convicted of possession of Opium. One of the issues related to the expert evidence on the nature of the substance found on him. The principal forensic scientist, J, at first thought it was cannabis, but submitted it to an assistant who concluded it was not. It was put in solution by J and fed into a machine and subjected to a process called gaschromatrography masspechtromotry which produced a printout. He identified codeine, and sought the opinion of another scientist, Dr.O, with special expertise in this area who identified other substances beyond codeine, including morphine. Both gave evidence at the trial. Dr.O’s conclusions were handed to J who, looking at both findings, gave evidence that in his expert opinion the substance was Opium. On a renewed application for leave to appeal following conviction, it was contended that the evidence that it was Opium was hearsay because it relied on hearsay material being based on printouts from the machine.

Define the type of evidence.

Was the evidence in that case hearsay?

*hearsay evidence - evidence based on what has been reported to a witness by others rather than what he has himself observed or experienced (not generally admissible as evidence)