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The Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Bureau celebrated its centennial year by hosting an International Conference on Identification on June 26 through June 30, 2001, in association with The Fingerprint Society in London, England.
I had the honor to attend to this impressive and unique celebration in London, England. There were over 450 delegates representing 28 countries. Thirty-three prestigious speakers, experts in their specific fields, covered lectures that included the following topics: "The History of Fingerprints"; "Scientific Support from Crime Scene to Court"; "Today's Science for Yesterday's Crimes"; "Latest Technologies"; "Recent Advances in Photoluminescence"; and "Maximizing Fingerprint Recovery".
Some of the speakers whom I recognized included:
Dr. Jay Levinson (Israel Police National HQ-retired) talked about "Disaster Victim Identification in Terrorist Incidents: Lessons Learned";
Dr. Joseph Almog (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) talked about "Iodine Fuming to Collodial Gold: 100 Years of Fingerprint Visualization";
Stephen Meagher and Michael Wieners (FBI) talked about "A Rock Solid Foundation Withstands a Century of Scrutiny";
David Ashbaugh (RCMP-Author: Quantitive-Qualitive Friction Ridge Analysis) talked about "New Scotland and the Evolution of the Fingerprint Science in Canada";
Pat Wertheim (Arizona's State Lab) talked about "Cosmetic Glove Prints as a Defense to Criminal Prosecution";
Kasey Wertheim (Mississippi Crime Lab) talked about "Friction Ridge Skin and Pattern Formation During the Critical Stage: Fact and Theory".
The conference came to an end with the discussion of what I feel has had the most impact in the United Kingdom in the last 100 years: "The move to a non-numerical standard in Fingerprint Identification"...