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As the ex OIC of the Australian Federal Police Fingerprint team, one the great mysteries to me is the reluctance of Fingerprint Examiners to give up magnifying glasses for the on screen digital alternative.
As the supervisor of my team I spent a good portion of each day reviewing fingerprint case files with a magnifying glass. As I was getting older my eyes started to give me trouble and glasses hardly helped. I would get these horrendous headaches in then evening and I went through a box of ibuprofen a week. I knew my days in Fingerprints was numbered and I was actively looking for an alternative career.
I knew others in my team were suffering neck and back issues and some were taking time off for medical issues connected to the hunching over a desk all day.
The game changer came in the development of the on-screen fingerprint alternative. There are now several alternatives out there to allow the Fingerprint Examiner the option of moving to the PC as the best way to conduct fingerprint examiners.
Aside from the OH&S benefits the on-screen software now available provides image enhancement, digital notes, Charts in seconds, and training advantages.
All Australian Police Agencies as well as our Immigration Dept. now use FCS comparison software and as a result many careers have been given a new lease on life. In many cases extending careers for several years.