Grant McGregor, Fingerprint Expert
Grant first came across the job advert for a fingerprint expert in the paper and it caught his attention. He had never thought about it as a career before but the more he read about it the more interesting it sounded.
"Although TV shows like CSI are based on reality, real life takes a safer more methodical approach to fingerprint evidence," explains Grant.
"Fingerprints can be a fast method of identification, whether it is identifying the person responsible for a crime or the identity of a deceased person. However, all identifications must be verified by three fingerprint experts before the information can be passed onto the police, which I don't suppose would keep the viewers on the edge of their seats.
"To become a fingerprint expert you need to be able to analyse what can sometimes be quite complicated fingerprint impressions and have the ability to focus and demonstrate accuracy and attention to detail. Good verbal communication skills are also important in order to present evidence in court."
Grant regularly finds his role being compared to the glitz and glamour of TV shows such as the popular American CSI series.
"The TV shows always show fingerprint marks found at a crime scene being searched on computers with pictures of the owner of the prints flashing up on screen. Real life is not quite that straightforward! We have a database (IDENT1) that links the fingerprints of previous offenders from Scotland, England and Wales against which we can search unidentified fingerprints. However, the computer only provides us with candidates that it thinks are similar to what we are searching. It is then down to the Fingerprint Officer to compare the candidates and decide if it's an identification.
"It took me around three and a half years of very thorough training to qualify as a Fingerprint Expert. This included three training courses at the National Policing Improvements Agency at Durham, which were set out to teach and test your skills as you progressed through the training.
"In between these courses I completed in-house training where I undertook fingerprint comparison work on a daily basis and completed evidential portfolios on certain aspects of my training. The evidential portfolios included topics from describing the comparison process carried out when working on a particular case to describing the techniques used to recover fingerprints from a body that had been in the sea for a number of weeks."