Murdoch University Masters in Forensic Science students have been helping a European police force improve their effectiveness in solving crime by analysing fingerprint and crime data.

Ricky Belcher and Ireneo Sanchez have been linked with the North Macedonia Police Force by their supervisor Associate Professor James Speers, and have been given privileged access to fingerprints recovered from crimes.

Their advanced analysis of the data will help police and forensics teams to successfully recover fingerprints from future crime scenes in the Balkan country.

Mr Belcher is investigating whether the unique pore patterns on fingermarks can provide police with a secondary confirmation in identification if insufficient detail is captured in the fingerprinting process.

His ongoing project is focusing on the size of pores, their spatial arrangement and whether or not they change over time.

Fingerprint trends

Mr Sanchez is investigating fingerprint verification and interrogated data from 1,982 criminal offences between 2005 and 2015 in North Macedonia to identify trends in fingerprint locations.

“This will help law enforcement investigations in identifying pertinent areas where fingerprints are found in crime scenes, thus helping investigations to be more efficient,” Mr Sanchez said.

The students visited Skopje in North Macedonia earlier this year to collect and analyse the data. Their results will be shared with the Northern Macedonia Police Force.

Mr Sanchez said they visited the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Skopje where a lot of forensic examinations, testing and studies are done.

“We had the opportunity to meet up and talk to forensic experts and I found their opinions and outlook on the field quite refreshing,” Mr Sanchez said.

It was a really eye opening experience, which makes me excited about my future and what I could possibly get into in the forensic field.

Mr Belcher said the experience of working and researching in a different country had been invaluable to his development.

“I believe these kinds of placements are important as it enables you to show the world the standard of education that Murdoch University provides, as well as help you grow as a person in terms of independence and maturity,” Mr Belcher said.

“Doing a project in another part of the world gives you a different prospective on how to conduct research and inspire different pathways of thinking. This I believe is so beneficial to a scientist.”

Mr Sanchez said he valued the networking he had done on the trip, and the opportunity to work independently.

“Being placed in a setting where you get to use your knowledge with as little assistance from your academics to tackle problems, I think is so beneficial. It helps you grow as a person.”

Professor Speers said the projects would provide police and forensic investigators in North Macedonia with the ‘biggest bang for their buck’ in terms of fingerprinting.

“Our projects will help guide crime scene investigators to target specific surfaces at a scene where we know they will have the greatest success of obtaining a useful fingerprint,” he said.

The placements in North Macedonia came about thanks to Professor Speers’ links to neighbouring Kosovo, where he spent much of 2018 developing forensic services.