When do cops take fingerprints

It worked so well that a police officer could find a match in only five minutes—much faster than the hour it would take to identify someone using the Bertillon body-measuring system. When Henry demonstrated the system to the British government, officials were so impressed they made him assistant commissioner of Scotland Yard in Fingerprinting was now a core tool in crime-busting.

The suspect claimed it was his first offense. When they confronted him with their analysis, he admitted his true identity. Within a few years, prints spread around the world. Fingerprinting promised to inject hard-nosed objectivity into the fuzzy world of policing.

Prosecutors historically relied on witness testimony to place a criminal in a location. And testimony is subjective; the jury might not find the witness credible. This sort of talk appealed to the spirit of the age—one where government authorities were keen to pitch themselves as rigorous and science-based. Early 20th-century authorities increasingly believed they could solve complex social problems with pure reason and precision.

Prosecutors wrung high drama out of this curious new technique. When Thomas Jennings in was the first U. In other trials, they would stage live courtroom demonstrations of print-lifting and print-matching. Indeed, criminals themselves were so intimidated by the prospect of being fingerprinted that, in , a suspect arrested by Scotland Yard desperately tried to slice off his own prints while in the paddy wagon.

Yet quite apart from these scientific claims, police fingerprinting was also simply prone to error and sloppy work. Depending on what city you were tried in, the standards could vary dramatically. And to make matters more complex, when police lift prints from a crime scene, they are often incomplete and unclear, giving authorities scant material to make a match. So even as fingerprints were viewed as unmistakable, plenty of people were mistakenly sent to jail.

Simon Cole notes that at least 23 people in the United States have been wrongly connected to crime-scene prints. Nonetheless, the reliability of fingerprinting today is rarely questioned in modern courts. One exception was J. Letts was astounded to hear that the standard for declaring that two prints matched varied widely from county to county.

Letts threw out the fingerprint evidence from that trial. But you may have to pay for this. It can take a long time to organise seeing your choice of medical practitioner. Especially if you are arrested at night. They can arrange a Mental Health Act assessment if they think this is needed. If your legal representative is worried about your mental health, they can ask the HCP about a mental health assessment.

You need to give your legal representative permission to do this. If you have been in contact with the police before they may know about your mental illness. If so, they could contact your social worker, community psychiatric nurse or care co-ordinator. You can tell the police to contact a mental health professional that supports you. They can be your appropriate adult if you feel comfortable with them.

The CPS is a government department that prosecutes criminal cases. The police will discuss their investigation with them. They will decide if your case should go to court. They prepare and present cases in court. They aim to prove you are guilty. Someone may have told the police that there has been a crime or think one is about to happen. The role of the police is to investigate. When the police arrest you, they will read the caution to you and, usually, take you to a police station.

But it may harm your defence if you do not mention now something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. If you give the answer to the question in court without telling the police, it may damage your case. They may feel you only thought of the answer after the police interviewed you. They might find it harder to believe if you only say it for the first time in court.

A magistrate is also known as a Justice of the Peace. They are trained, unpaid members of their local community. They deal with less serious criminal cases. The custody sergeant will meet you at reception. They will check your name, address and date of birth. They will ask you questions about your health and if you are a risk to yourself.

The custody sergeant will check any belongings you have with you. You may have to give them things like your mobile phone and money. They will put these in an envelope or bag, seal it and make a note of it.

The custody officer has to keep this safe. They should give your things back to you, unless they are part of the case you are involved in.

If you have medication on you, the custody sergeant should get a health care professional HCP to check it.

They should make sure you can take your medication while you are at the station. The custody sergeant should make sure that you understand your rights. Or help from a healthcare professional. They will also ask you if you want legal advice. Even if you decide not to have legal advice at first, you can change your mind. You can ask for a legal adviser at any time when at the police station.

You can ask the custody sergeant to tell someone you have been arrested. This could be a carer, family member, friend, healthcare or social care professional such as your social worker. The police may want to search you if they think you might be hiding something.

There are different searches that the police can do. The police may ask you to remove some, or all, of your clothing. But they must always make reasonable efforts to get you to hand over the item without being strip searched. There are specific procedures that the police must follow if they want you to remove some, or all, of your clothing.

These include:. Your appropriate adult should be there when the police need to take your fingerprints, DNA samples or photograph you. The information that you give to your legal adviser is confidential. If you tell anyone else, including your appropriate adult, they could be asked to give evidence against you in court. If you agree, your legal representative can share information with your appropriate adult and the police.

But most of the time your meetings with the legal representative are confidential. This means the representative will not tell anyone else what you have spoken about, unless you say they can. Your appropriate adult does not have to know what you and your legal adviser talked about. The interview is your chance to give your version of events. At the interview, as well as the police officers, there should be you, your legal adviser if you asked for one, and an appropriate adult.

Interview rooms can be small. But it should be comfortable enough for everyone to sit around a table. The police will usually record the interview on a tape recorder. At the start of the interview, a police officer will say where the interview is taking place and the date and time the interview started. The police officer starting the interview will say who is in the room. They will also ask each person to say their name and what they are doing there.

You will need to identify yourself when asked to do so. The police will be trying to understand your version of events. The police officers may ask detailed questions about the crime or may just ask general questions. For example, they may ask you where you were or what you were doing at a certain time.

The police may show you evidence during the interview, such as CCTV records or an item such as clothing or a weapon. During the interview the police should not be argumentative in the way they ask questions or in their body language. The appropriate adult or solicitor can speak up during the interview. They can do this if they feel the police are being intimidating or if they feel you are becoming distressed.

At the end of the interview, the police officer will remove the tape from the tape recorder and seal it in a tape box with a sticker. They will ask everyone there to sign the sealed tape. This shows that everyone agrees that the tape was of your interview.

And,that the tape has not been tampered with. The police may then give you or your legal representative a copy. If they do not, you or your legal representative can ask for it later if you have to go to court.

After the interview you will need to stay in a cell while the CPS and police decide what to do. We look at what could happen afterwards in the next section of this page. When you are held in a police station, the police have to regularly review whether you still need to be there. If the police do not have enough evidence to keep you in custody, then they should let you go. If the police need time to get evidence, they can keep you in the station for longer.

There are rules about when the police should review if you still need to be kept at the police station. The time begins when you first arrive at the police station. If the police take you to hospital, the clock stops. It then starts again when you are taken back to the police station. If the police question you in hospital, this counts as time in custody and should be included in the review times. The police should record their reviews on your custody record, which your appropriate adult and legal representative can look at and check.

If the police accuse you of a minor crime, they may decide not to charge you. If the crime is serious, or you have been arrested for it before, the police could pass the case to the Crown Prosecution Service CPS. The CPS will decide whether to prosecute you. A senior police officer of superintendent rank or above, can decide that you need to be kept in the police station for longer than 24 hours. This may happen if the police need to find, or protect evidence, in relation to a serious crime.

If you have been identified as a vulnerable person, the police might not be able to keep you at the station for more than 24 hours. The police should think about options other than keeping you at the police station. The police should speak to your legal adviser and appropriate adult, of they are available.

They will be able to tell the police their views on whether you should stay at the police station any longer. But not for more than four days. The police will need to give magistrates information about your case before allowing them to hold you for longer.

You can ask to see this information. The police or the custody sergeant may be concerned that you are mentally vulnerable. If you agree your legal adviser, friend or relative could tell the police you have mental health issues.

If so, they should get an appropriate adult for you as soon as possible. Comments or queries about angling can be emailed to anglingcorrespondence daera-ni.

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