ABSTRACT
Technical issues related to automated fingerprint identification systems and associated computer technologies for database searching are important, but they need separate treatment because such systems are only tools for the extraction of relevant information from a large amount of data. (See, for example, the book chapters by Moore [1991] and Jain and Pankanti [2001].) On the other hand, there are many professional issues that directly affect dactyloscopists in their daily activities, such as the information content (not simply the identification potential) of friction ridge skin impressions, the relevancy of traces (their age, the potential for forgeries and their detection), identification errors, and training and education requirements for fingerprint specialists. These issues, which are rarely covered in any detail in the general literature, are addressed in this chapter. Some of these issues are difficult to address, and some are controversial, but they are introduced to show that the field is not stale and that there is room for further discussion and advancement. Certainly, many questions raised may not have complete or satisfactory answers, but we hope that the mere fact of raising the issues will prompt relevant research and development efforts.
