Appendix 9 Glossary

Inquiry terminology, acronyms and common fingerprinting terms¹

The 2005 Act	The Inquiries Act 2005, an Act of the UK Parliament, extending to the whole of the UK. Together with The Inquiries (Scotland) Rules 2007 the legislation under which the Inquiry operated (see "the Inquiry legislation").
The 2007 Rules	The Inquiries (Scotland) Rules 2007 (SSI 2007/560) - subordinate legislation, made by Scottish Ministers under the 2005 Act.
ACE-V	Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, Verification, a sequential process used in fingerprint analysis.
ACPOS	Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland
advocate	Scottish lawyer, member of the Faculty of Advocates, equivalent to English barrister
advocate depute (AD)	Lawyers who prosecute criminal cases in the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland. Typically experienced practising members of the Faculty of Advocates or solicitor advocates. With the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General known collectively as Crown Counsel.
AFIS	Automated Fingerprint Identification System(s)
affirmed	Before giving evidence at the Inquiry hearings witnesses either took the oath (see below) or affirmed that their evidence would be truthful.
AFR	Automatic Fingerprint Recognition, the AFIS in use in SCRO
APRG	ACPOS Presidential Review Group
artefact	Any distortion or alteration not in the original friction ridge impression, produced by an external agent or action; any information not present in the original object or image, inadvertently introduced by image capture, processing, compressions, transmission, display, and printing.*
awards	Decisions by the Chairman under the Inquiry legislation to allow the payment of expenses of various kinds to core participants and witnesses.
bifurcation	The point at which one friction ridge divides into two friction ridges.*
case envelope	Pre-printed envelope used by SCRO for storing items received or created during an investigation, with fields for the results of comparisons and other information.
characteristics	Features of the friction ridges - also called for example minutiae, points, Galton characteristics - level 2 detail. The two main types are a ridge ending (where a ridge terminates) and a bifurcation (where it splits into two branches).
charting PC	Used by SCRO to create enlargements of a mark and a print for display in court.
clarity	or "quality": describes how well the details from three-dimensional friction ridges are reproduced in the two-dimensional impression (print or mark)
CMRT	Change Management Review Team (appointed by APRG in 2000)
comparator	A split image projection screen used to view fingerprint images
COPFS	Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service - the prosecution authority in Scotland
core	The approximate centre of a fingerprint pattern.*
core participant	An individual or organisation so designated by the Chairman under the Inquiry legislation.
CP	Core participant
CPD	The Inquiry's core participant databases. Alternatively, Continuing Professional Development
CRFP	Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners
dead print form	The form on which fingerprint impressions are taken from the body of a deceased person. As seen by the Inquiry the form has one impression per digit unlike ten-print forms which have a plain and a rolled impression of each digit.
determinations	Under the Inquiry legislation the Chairman's power to make awards of expenses is subject to conditions and qualifications determined by Scottish Ministers. See URL: http://thefingerprintinquiryscotland.org.uk/inquiry/30.html
delta	The point on a friction ridge at or nearest to the point of divergence of two type lines, and located at or directly in front of the point of divergence.*
distortion	Variances in the reproduction of friction skin caused for example by pressure, movement, force, contact surface.*
DNA	Deoxyribonucleic acid contains the genetic information in cells, carried in the sequence of its four constituent base units or nucleotides. The sequence of nucleotides defines individual hereditary characteristics. DNA 'fingerprinting' employs various analytical techniques to identify individuals by determining their specific DNA sequences.
dot	An isolated friction ridge unit whose length approximates its width in size.* Sometimes called an island.
elimination	Used in connection with the fingerprints of persons who had legitimate access to a crime scene, such as residents or police officers. If such a person's print matched a mark, that mark was said to be eliminated rather than identified.
enclosure	A single friction ridge that bifurcates and rejoins after a short course and continues as a single friction ridge,* sometimes called a "lake".
ending ridge	see ridge ending
exclusion	The determination by a fingerprint examiner that there is sufficient quality and quantity of detail in disagreement to conclude that two areas of friction ridge impression did not originate from the same source.*
exemplar	The known print of an individual, recorded electronically, photographically, by ink, or by another medium.* In the Inquiry Report called "print" (as compared to the unknown which in the Report is referred to as a "mark").
FBI	Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency of the United States Department of Justice.
fingerprint	An impression of the friction ridges of all or any part of the finger.*
Form 13B	A triplicate form used by scene of crime officers and SCRO.
fragmentary and insufficient	Term used when a mark is considered to contain insufficient detail to allow a comparison and identification to take place or when a mark suffers from considerable distortion, superimposition or lacks clarity (or a combination of some, or all, of these factors).
friction ridge	A raised portion of the epidermis on the palmar or plantar skin, consisting of one or more connected ridge units.*
friction ridge analysis	Analysis of the friction ridges, also called fingerprint comparison, fingerprint identification or individualisation.
FSS	Forensic Science Service (a government owned company providing forensic science services to the police forces of England and Wales).
hearings	The 58 public sessions of the Inquiry chaired by the Chairman.
HOLMES	Home Office Large Major Enquiry System, a database used by police forces for major investigations.
HOSDB	Home Office Scientific Development Branch formerly the Home Office Police Scientific Development Branch (PSDB)
HMA	Her Majesty's Advocate, term used to describe the Lord Advocate in citations of court cases.
HMCICS	Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland
HMICS	Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland
IAI	International Association for Identification
IB	Identification Bureau
identification	In some forensic disciplines, this term denotes the similarity of class characteristics, see "individualisation".*
incipient ridge	A friction ridge not fully developed that may appear shorter and thinner than fully developed friction ridges.*
inconclusive	A conclusion reached by an examiner that neither sufficient agreement exists to individualise nor sufficient disagreement exists to exclude.*
indictment	In the Scottish criminal justice system the name of the document served on the accused in more serious criminal cases. It sets out the charges about the crimes the accused is alleged to have committed.
individualisation	The determination of an examiner that there is sufficient quality and quantity of detail in agreement to conclude that two friction ridge impressions originated from the same source.*
Inquiries Act 2005	see "The 2005 Act"
Inquiries Rules	see "The 2007 Rules"
the Inquiry legislation	The statutory basis for the Inquiry - the 2005 Act and the 2007 Rules.
island	see "dot"
ISO	International Organisation for Standardisation
known print	see "exemplar"
lake	see "enclosure"
latent print, latent impression	Transferred impression of friction ridge detail not readily visible.*
level 1 detail	Friction ridge flow and general morphological information,* the general flow pattern or overall friction ridge pattern eg loop, whorl, arch - first level detail.
level 2 detail	Individual friction ridge paths and associated events, including minutiae* e.g. bifurcations, ending ridges. 'Galton characteristics', 'points' and 'minutiae' are all terms for level two features. Second level detail.
level 3 detail	Friction ridge dimensional attributes (e.g. width, edge shapes, and pores)* - third level detail.
lift	An adhesive or other medium used to transfer a friction ridge impression from a substrate.*
locus	Scene where a crime or incident took place.
Lord Advocate	The senior law officer of the Crown in Scotland. Among other responsibilities the Lord Advocate is head of the system of prosecution in Scotland.
mark	Term commonly used in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries to designate a latent impression. Used in the Inquiry Report to denote a fingerprint found in connection with a crime to differentiate it from a "print".
marks worksheet	Form used by scene of crime officers and SCRO. Listed marks and result of fingerprint examination.
minutiae	see "characteristics"
morphology	The form and structure of, in this instance, living things.
MSP	Member of the Scottish Parliament
NAFIS	The National Automated Fingerprint Identification System, first introduced to all police forces in England and Wales, later developed as part of the IDENT1 system.
NAS	The National Academy of Sciences in the U.S.A.
NNS	Non Numeric Standard, a term used to describe the non numeric approach to fingerprint work adopted in England & Wales in 2001 and Scotland in 2006.
NPIA	National Policing Improvement Agency (formerly NTC)
NTC	National Training Centre for Scientific Support to Crime Investigation
oath	see "sworn"
OIG	Office of the Inspector General (authors of the 2006 report 'A Review of the FBI's Handling of the Brandon Mayfield Case' and the follow-up report in 2011)
OR	Official Report - the transcript of the proceedings of the Scottish Parliament.
oral evidence	Evidence given in person by someone speaking in an Inquiry hearing.
perjury	The giving of false evidence on oath; lying while giving evidence on oath.
precognition	A statement taken from a witness by a statement taker (precognoscer) or solicitor which is not generally seen by the witness to be checked for accuracy and is not generally signed by the witness.
Precognition	The collective term applied to the volume of materials (precognitions, expert reports, documentary productions and analysis of the evidence) provided to the advocate depute in order to prepare for and to conduct a trial.
procurator fiscal	The public prosecutor in criminal courts in Scotland other than the High Court where an advocate depute prosecutes. The procurator fiscal ('fiscal' for short) also works with advocate deputes in the preparation of cases for the High Court.
proof	The hearing of evidence (or trial) in a civil case in Scotland.
PSNI	Police Service of Northern Ireland
Q.C.	Queen's Counsel (senior advocate)
QD2, QI2, Y7 etc	Designations given by scene of crime officers to marks found in the investigation into Miss Ross's murder.
quality	The clarity of information contained within a friction ridge impression.*
quantity	The amount of information contained within a friction ridge impression.*
ridge ending	Where a ridge terminates; ending ridge - a single friction ridge that terminates within the friction ridge structure.* An example of second level detail.
ridge flow	The direction of one or more friction ridges; see "level 1 detail".*
ridge path	The course of a single friction ridge; see "level 2 detail".*
SCRO	Scottish Criminal Record Office
SE	Scottish Executive, term used to describe both Scottish Ministers and their staff between 1999 (when the devolution arrangements for Scotland under the Scotland Act 1998 came into effect) and 2007.
SERIS-MPS	Specialist Evidence Recovery Imaging Service-Metropolitan Police Service
SFS	Scottish Fingerprint Service
SG	Scottish Government, term used to describe Scottish Ministers and their staff from 2007.
SIO	Senior Investigating Officer - lead police officer
SOCO	Scene of crime officer
SOP(S)	Standard Operating Procedure(s)
SP	Scottish Parliament
special case	Term used for the most serious crimes such as murder or rape
SPSA	Scottish Police Services Authority
spur	A bifurcation with one short friction ridge branching off a longer friction ridge.*
substrate	The surface upon which a friction ridge impression is deposited.*
SWGFAST	Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology, sponsored by the US Institute of Justice and the FBI
sworn	Before giving evidence at the hearings witnesses were sworn i.e. they made a declaration under oath that their evidence would be truthful. Witnesses were given the option to be sworn or to affirm (see above).
tenprint	A controlled recording of available fingers of an individual using black ink, electronic imaging, photography, or other medium on a contrasting background.*
terms of reference	The scope of the Inquiry set out by Scottish Ministers under the Inquiry legislation.
TIE	Trace-identify-eliminate: a police term applied to individuals who may be of interest to the police in relation to an investigation.
trial	The hearing of a case in criminal proceedings.
UKAS	United Kingdom Accreditation Service, national body responsible for assessing and accrediting the competence of organisations in the fields of calibration, testing, inspection and in the certification of systems, products and personnel.
URN	Unique Reference Number, the unique crime reference number allocated immediately the crime is made known. The URN allocated to the investigation of the murder of Miss Ross was UC01050197.
volume case	Term used for crimes such as house-breaking and motor crime, as compared to a special case.
witness	A person who gives evidence in a court case or Inquiry. At the Inquiry some witnesses gave both written and oral evidence, some only written.

Footnotes

1 Some definitions shown* are taken from the glossary produced by SWGFAST, Scientific Working Group on Friction Analysis, Study and Technology (Version 3) (2011), Standard Terminology of Friction Ridge Examination, (Scientific Working Group on Friction Analysis, Study and Technology), URL:
http://www.swgfast.org/documents/terminology/110323_Standard-Terminology_3.0.pdf