Pauline Rowson's Blog - Posts Tagged "fingerprint-bureau"
CSI Portsmouth 2011 was voted a great day's entertainment
CSI Portsmouth 2011 held on Saturday 5 November at the John Pounds Centre, Portsmouth, England was voted a great day's entertainment by the people who attended it. Over a hundred people attended the packed morning programme of talks and a hundred and fifteen the afternoon panel debate.
The morning programme consisted of talks from former Detective Superintendent and crime writer Bob Bridgestock, fingerprint expert Jane Aston from Hampshire Police Fingerprint Bureau, Lucy Wainwright, forensic psychologist from the University of Portsmouth International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology and crime author Pauline Rowson on Writing A Crime Novel.
Also at CSI Portsmouth for the day, the girls from the Fingerprint Bureau, Emma and Kerrie.
More about the afternoon panel debate on tomorrow's blog.
CSI Portsmouth was launched in 2010 and is part of Portsmouth BookFest, a festival of popular literature. It is organised by Pauline Rowson in conjunction with The Hayling Island Bookshop and Portsmouth City Libraries.
Make a diary note for CSI Portsmouth 2012, which will take place on Saturday 3 November for a great line up of crime authors and crime experts for an even bigger event.
Footsteps on the Shore
The morning programme consisted of talks from former Detective Superintendent and crime writer Bob Bridgestock, fingerprint expert Jane Aston from Hampshire Police Fingerprint Bureau, Lucy Wainwright, forensic psychologist from the University of Portsmouth International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology and crime author Pauline Rowson on Writing A Crime Novel.
Also at CSI Portsmouth for the day, the girls from the Fingerprint Bureau, Emma and Kerrie.
More about the afternoon panel debate on tomorrow's blog.
CSI Portsmouth was launched in 2010 and is part of Portsmouth BookFest, a festival of popular literature. It is organised by Pauline Rowson in conjunction with The Hayling Island Bookshop and Portsmouth City Libraries.
Make a diary note for CSI Portsmouth 2012, which will take place on Saturday 3 November for a great line up of crime authors and crime experts for an even bigger event.
Footsteps on the Shore
An intriguing visit to the Fingerprint Bureau
Crime authors get to research all sorts of interesting things and last Saturday I spent a fascinating morning at the Fingerprint Bureau at Hampshire Police Support Headquarters at Netley learning how the fingerprints taken at the scene of crime and of people in police custody are identified.
Although I'd researched this before and have had lots of advice from the Fingerprint Team I went there specifically to ask questions that relate to the DI Andy Horton crime novel I'm currently writing, number twelve in the series. And I'm obviously pleased that not only were my questions answered but the information I gained threw up some further interesting plot lines, which of course I'm not going to spoil by mentioning here.
The team from Hampshire Police Fingerprint Bureau have always been extremely helpful, turning up as they do for CSI Portsmouth every year in November (a one day event where crime fiction meets crime fact) and also for CSI Basingstoke, which I helped to organise in July 2013, and they'll also be at CSI Winchester, which I'm also involved with, on 8 March 2014. So I have lots of reasons to be grateful to them.
On Saturday, Jane Ashton, Supervisory Fingerprint Examiner, showed me around the modern single storey building named Herschel House appropriately after the father of fingerprinting William James Herschel who was born in Slough on 9th January 1833. He was the grandson of astronomer William Herschel, and the son of John Herschel, also an astronomer but his father asked him to choose another career, luckily for us, and he joined the East India Company.
Following the Indian Mutiny of 1858 he joined the Indian Civil Service and it was here, while drawing up a contract with a local man, that he made him use a hand print in order to prevent him from denying the contract later.
Throughout his life Herschel experimented with fingerprints using them to prevent forgery and as an administrative tool. But it was Francis Galton and Edward Henry, building on the foundations that Herschel had laid, that turned fingerprinting into a tool for fighting crime. And I saw it in action.
Here are some facts from my visit, you can read the full article on my official website blog at http://www.rowmark.co.uk
1. Although the police have a computer system for fingerprints called IDENT1, fingerprints are still physically examined by humans, through an eye glass and careful study.
2. The trained examiners know exactly what to look for and how skin reacts, ages and can be scarred. They can spot a scar and other smaller details that IDENT1 can't.
3. Fingerprints, palm prints and toe prints don't lie. They are unique and even identical twins will have different fingerprints.
4. Fingerprints on objects can survive for a very long time and can be lifted from paint, oil, grease and from those left in blood.
5. Contrary to belief most villains don't wear gloves and even when they do they usually take them off for some purpose and then touch something.
6. The role of the scene of crime officers is to find that mark. The role of the fingerprint examiners are to identify it.
It's a fascinating topic and I enjoyed my visit tremendously. My thanks to Jane Ashton and her team at Hampshire Police Fingerprint Bureau, keep up the good work!
A Killing Coast
Although I'd researched this before and have had lots of advice from the Fingerprint Team I went there specifically to ask questions that relate to the DI Andy Horton crime novel I'm currently writing, number twelve in the series. And I'm obviously pleased that not only were my questions answered but the information I gained threw up some further interesting plot lines, which of course I'm not going to spoil by mentioning here.
The team from Hampshire Police Fingerprint Bureau have always been extremely helpful, turning up as they do for CSI Portsmouth every year in November (a one day event where crime fiction meets crime fact) and also for CSI Basingstoke, which I helped to organise in July 2013, and they'll also be at CSI Winchester, which I'm also involved with, on 8 March 2014. So I have lots of reasons to be grateful to them.
On Saturday, Jane Ashton, Supervisory Fingerprint Examiner, showed me around the modern single storey building named Herschel House appropriately after the father of fingerprinting William James Herschel who was born in Slough on 9th January 1833. He was the grandson of astronomer William Herschel, and the son of John Herschel, also an astronomer but his father asked him to choose another career, luckily for us, and he joined the East India Company.
Following the Indian Mutiny of 1858 he joined the Indian Civil Service and it was here, while drawing up a contract with a local man, that he made him use a hand print in order to prevent him from denying the contract later.
Throughout his life Herschel experimented with fingerprints using them to prevent forgery and as an administrative tool. But it was Francis Galton and Edward Henry, building on the foundations that Herschel had laid, that turned fingerprinting into a tool for fighting crime. And I saw it in action.
Here are some facts from my visit, you can read the full article on my official website blog at http://www.rowmark.co.uk
1. Although the police have a computer system for fingerprints called IDENT1, fingerprints are still physically examined by humans, through an eye glass and careful study.
2. The trained examiners know exactly what to look for and how skin reacts, ages and can be scarred. They can spot a scar and other smaller details that IDENT1 can't.
3. Fingerprints, palm prints and toe prints don't lie. They are unique and even identical twins will have different fingerprints.
4. Fingerprints on objects can survive for a very long time and can be lifted from paint, oil, grease and from those left in blood.
5. Contrary to belief most villains don't wear gloves and even when they do they usually take them off for some purpose and then touch something.
6. The role of the scene of crime officers is to find that mark. The role of the fingerprint examiners are to identify it.
It's a fascinating topic and I enjoyed my visit tremendously. My thanks to Jane Ashton and her team at Hampshire Police Fingerprint Bureau, keep up the good work!
A Killing Coast
Great line up for CSI Portsmouth 2014 with best selling crime authors, police and forensic experts
I'm delighted to announce the great line up of best selling crime authors, crime experts and officers from Hampshire Police for CSI Portsmouth 2014, part of Portsmouth BookFest, where crime fiction meets crime fact, on Saturday 8 November.
This year joining me on the panel in the morning will be crime author M.C. Beaton with crime experts, Terrence Napier, Footwear Mark Examiner for Hampshire Police Scientific Services and Dr Katherine Brown, Forensic Entomologist, Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth.
In the afternoon crime authors Val McDermid and Jessie Keane join me and officers from Hampshire police, Sergeant Roger Wood, an expert on intelligence gathering, cyber-crime and covert source recruitment and Detective Inspector Mandy Horsburgh, Operation Fortress, investigating serious violent drug-related crime and organised criminal groups.
CSI Portsmouth, sponsored by Bello, publisher Pan Macmillan’s digital imprint, which brings lost classic back to life, is now in its fifth year. It is a one day event which discusses through the two panel debates crime fiction and fact. It is being held at The Princess Royal Gallery at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Also at CSI Portsmouth will be Hampshire Police Fingerprint bureau, a mock up crime scene provided by students on the Forensic Science Course at Southdowns College and a forensic entomology display by the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth.
Portsmouth BookFest is a festival of popular literature organised by Portsmouth City Council and runs from 24 October to 9 November. Its aim is to promote reading for pleasure and enthusiasm for literature in the city of Portsmouth. The bookshop at CSI Portsmouth will be provided by The Hayling Island Bookshop.
CSI Portsmouth promises to be a highly informative and entertaining event so if you like crime fiction and are fascinated by crime fact then why not join us. Tickets go on sale on Monday 29 September and cost £12 for the day. They sell fast so make a note in your diary now.
More information visit CSI Portsmouth 2014
This year joining me on the panel in the morning will be crime author M.C. Beaton with crime experts, Terrence Napier, Footwear Mark Examiner for Hampshire Police Scientific Services and Dr Katherine Brown, Forensic Entomologist, Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth.
In the afternoon crime authors Val McDermid and Jessie Keane join me and officers from Hampshire police, Sergeant Roger Wood, an expert on intelligence gathering, cyber-crime and covert source recruitment and Detective Inspector Mandy Horsburgh, Operation Fortress, investigating serious violent drug-related crime and organised criminal groups.
CSI Portsmouth, sponsored by Bello, publisher Pan Macmillan’s digital imprint, which brings lost classic back to life, is now in its fifth year. It is a one day event which discusses through the two panel debates crime fiction and fact. It is being held at The Princess Royal Gallery at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Also at CSI Portsmouth will be Hampshire Police Fingerprint bureau, a mock up crime scene provided by students on the Forensic Science Course at Southdowns College and a forensic entomology display by the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth.
Portsmouth BookFest is a festival of popular literature organised by Portsmouth City Council and runs from 24 October to 9 November. Its aim is to promote reading for pleasure and enthusiasm for literature in the city of Portsmouth. The bookshop at CSI Portsmouth will be provided by The Hayling Island Bookshop.
CSI Portsmouth promises to be a highly informative and entertaining event so if you like crime fiction and are fascinated by crime fact then why not join us. Tickets go on sale on Monday 29 September and cost £12 for the day. They sell fast so make a note in your diary now.
More information visit CSI Portsmouth 2014
