News In Focus
21 April 2006
Action plan for fingerprint service published
The Scottish Executive has published a plan to improve the Scottish Fingerprint Service.
The plan was drawn up by Deputy Chief Constable David Mulhern, interim chief executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority. It includes a recommendation that the non-numeric fingerprint standard be introduced instead of the current 16 points of comparison. This standard is felt to be much more definitive and its introduction is planned for August 2006.
Key aspects of the 25-point action plan - which will be scrutinised throughout its implementation by international experts from various disciplines - include:
- integration of the Scottish Fingerprint Service with the Scottish Forensic Science Service
- a critical review of the leadership and culture within the Scottish Fingerprint Service
- a review of existing training for staff
- the verification process used for identifying or eliminating those who may feature in a crime will be reviewed to ensure the system is consistent throughout Scotland and based on best practice from elsewhere
- the establishment of a 'safeline', enabling staff to seek advice or report concerns anonymously.
The review of the Scottish Fingerprint Service was brought forward, following Shirley McKie's £750,000 out-of-court settlement with the Scottish Executive on behalf of the service in February.
Former policewoman Ms McKie received the money following a wrongful accusation of lying to the court when she said fingerprints found at the house of a murder victim were not hers.
Mr Mulhern said: "Experts in fingerprints, forensic science, human resources, organisation change and the legal profession have and will continue to play an important part in supporting this work. They will ensure the action plan is implemented in full and delivers the high standard of service which we all desire.
"This will be done in a fully open, transparent and accountable way so that all interested parties, including the public, are able to see these improvements being made. The public can be re-assured that everything possible is being done to create a service in Scotland that is benchmarked against the best in the world and adopts the very best practice at all levels."
A copy of the plan has been sent to the Parliament's Justice 1 committee.