Recommendation FP42: Complex marks examination
From The Fingerprint Inquiry Report, published 14 December 2011.
Recommendation
The SPSA should develop a process to ensure that complex marks such as Y7 and QI2 Ross are treated differently. Such a process should include the following principal elements: (i) Examination should be by three suitably qualified examiners. (ii) Notes should be taken at each stage of ACE-V by every examiner involved in the process. Those notes should record the information specified in recommendation 52. (iii) No examiner should disclose his or her conclusion to another examiner until all three examiners have reached their independent conclusions. (iv) After all three examiners have completed their individual comparisons they should meet and review the substantive basis of their conclusions. The reasons each has for their respective conclusions should be explored, even when they agree that an identification can be made. Any differences of opinion among them should be discussed in order to determine whether the conclusion is reliable. A note should be kept of the matters discussed at the technical review meeting.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended establishing a separate process for examining complex fingerprint marks. In December 2011, Tom Nelson, Director of Forensic Services at the Scottish Police Services Authority, stated that in January it would launch a new approach to "specifically and separately deal with complex fingerprint marks", but did not mention examinations by three examiners, recording notes at each stage, or technical review meetings (Tom Nelson, Dec 2011).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
About this summary
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify from published sources alone. The record reflects policy commitments rather than measured outcomes.
Government response
The Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) accepts all the Inquiry's findings and all of the recommendations made of it by the Inquiry. SPSA Forensic Services will be developing an action plan with the aim of making the necessary improvements in time for fingerprints to integrate into the new single Scottish Police Service in 2013-14.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: These are the words of the Scottish Police Services Authority, from its news release of 14 December 2011 (Internet Archive capture; its website closed when the Authority was dissolved). The site files them under the Scottish Police Authority, which took over its forensic services in 2013.
We should all recognise that there have been significant advances in the delivery of Scotland's forensic services since the McKie case, and I am confident that the recommendations from this Inquiry will further enhance these services.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
The Scottish Government's news release of 14 December 2011, the day the report was published, is its only published statement on the recommendations. Its one sentence about them is given for all of them together and states no position. The Scottish Police Services Authority's release of the same day accepts "all of the recommendations made of it by the Inquiry" without listing them; the site records that on the recommendations addressed to its forensic service. The Authority no longer exists, and the site files its words under the Scottish Police Authority, which took over its forensic services in 2013.
Delivery
Scottish Police Authority says in progress (14 December 2011)
In January we will launch a new approach to specifically and separately deal with complex fingerprint marks, in line with the recommendations of the Inquiry today.
From: Scottish Police Services Authority welcomes findings of Fingerprint Inquiry, Tom Nelson
Site note: These are the words of the Scottish Police Services Authority, from its news release of 14 December 2011 (Internet Archive capture; its website closed when the Authority was dissolved). The site files them under the Scottish Police Authority, which took over its forensic services in 2013.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Scottish Police Authority
Response, delivery statement - Scottish Government
Response