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Randall Fitzwater joined the FBI in 1968 as a fingerprint examiner. He excelled in fingerprint classification and identification in the Identification Division and was selected for the Latent Fingerpint Section, where he became a fingerprint expert and certified latent print examiner. There he was assigned until his retirement in October 2007, when he started Fitzwater Fingeprint Consulting Services, a fingerprint consulting and training enterprise. Having conducted fingerprint identification and latent fingerprint examinations in all types of cases, from simple burglaries to international terrorism, Mr. Fitzwater has received numerous letters of commendation for skill demonstrated in those cases. Mr. Fitzwater has exceptional knowledge of fingerprints, latent print case management and related issues such as quality assurance. He has presented testimony in local, state, federal and international courts as a fingerprint expert. He has exceptional knowledge of testimony and related topics such as Daubert issues. He is well versed in the laboratory setting and the courtroom, as well as in the classroom. Throughout his career Mr. Fitzwater conducted fingerprint identification and fingerprint tasks in the laboratory and at the scenes of plane crashes and natural disasters, both nationally and internationally. Because of his expertise he is able to deal with stressful victim identification issues, as well as organizational problems and difficult to solve problems which need assistance at management levels. Mr. Fitzwater has presented fingerprint training across the United States since 1988. He has taught fingerprint classes since 1988 at the local, state and Federal levels. He has served as the FBI Latent Print Unit Training Program manager and trained fingerprint experts at the FBI, US Secret Service, US Post Office, and other Federal agencies. As a manager with the FBI, Mr. Fitzwater, along with other duties, wrote and developed the first draft of the Fingerprint Specialist Training Program in 1996, which is the basis for the FBI training program for Physical Scientists (forensic examiners) being trained to be fingerprint experts in the Latent Print Unit, Laboratory Division of the FBI. As a supervisor in the Latent Print Unit, Mr. Fitzwater reviewed the casework of latent print examiners for quality assurance purposes and advised them of solutions to difficult latent fingerprint identification problems. Mr. Fitzwater has made presentations on testimony and fingerprint training issues to the IAI across the country. He has developed various fingerprint schools and taught the science of fingerprints to local, state and federal police agencies, as well as in colleges, throughout the United States. He has written and developed proficiency and certification tests for the FBI, and administered such tests. He has written training manuals for the FBI on the many facets of latent fingerprint examinations. Mr. Fitzwater has critiqued students in moot courts and instructed them in proper courtroom and testimony technique in order help them gain a clear understanding of the importance of their testimony and how it relates to the judicial system. A more detailed version of Mr. Fitzwater’s background is available. Should you wish to discuss any fingerprint-related matter, you may contact him via email. Please contact Mr. Fitzwater directly for a complete resume and/or fee schedule.

PO Box 502   Fredericksburg, Virginia 22404 540-373-7121

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Fingerprint History Time Line

• 1684     Nehemiah Grew studied and described ridges on surfaces of the hands and feet.
• 1686     Marcello Malpighi noted friction ridges & patterns
• 1823     John Evangelist Purkinje writes a thesis including a description of 9 fingerprint patterns, but he                            did not mention the use of fingerprints for identification.
• 1858     Herschel began using fingerprints officially
• 1877     Hershel introduces fingerprints for prisoners
• 1880     Faulds publishes article in Nature
• 1882     Gilbert Thompson, of the US Geological Survey, uses his own fingerprints on sutler’s orders to                              prevent fraud.
• 1883     Mark Twain writes "Life on the Mississippi"
• 1892     Sir Francis Galton publishes book "Finger Prints"
  
• 1892     Vucetich uses fingerprints in police system
• 1893     Vucetich identifies murderess by bloody fingerprints
• 1900     Sir Edward Richard Henry publishes "The Classification and Use of Fingerprints"
• 1901     Fingerprints officially adopted in England & Wales
• 1902     Dr. Henry Pelouze DeForrest pioneers 1st systematic use of fingerprinting in US by introducing                              fingerprints to the New York Civil Service system
• 1903     1st systematic use of fingerprints in US to identify criminals
• 1904     US Penitentiary at Leavenworth and St.Louis PD established fingerprint bureaus
• 1905     US Army adopts fingerprints for identification purposes
• 1907     Mary Holland, first US fingerprint instructor, introduces fingerprints to US Navy, which later adopted                      the method
  
• 1911     First Appellate Court decision in US on fingerprints - Illinois v. Jennings
• 1924     Identification Division of the FBI established as a central repository for fingerprints. Started with                          approximately 810,00 fingerprint cards from Leavenworth and IACP files
• 1937    New York begins using an IBM horizontal sorter utilizing fingerprint classifications punch cards
• 1978    FBI begins using a laser to develop latent fingerprints.
• 1999    FBI introduces the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System
• 2004    FBI erroneously identifies Brandon Mayfield in connection with a terrorist bombing in Spain.