In most state and federal forensic laboratories, and even in some local agency labs, the ability to conduct automated searches of things like latent prints, DNA profiles, and ballistics evidence represents an enormous leap forward in the ability to develop investigative information from physical evidence. Consider that in the past, latent print examiners had to search by hand through thousands of suspect fingerprint cards to find a match to a latent print recovered from a crime scene. Today, that same print is entered into AFIS and a “hit” can be returned in mere hours.

In this session’s critical thinking assignment, you will have a choice in how to present your information. You may design an Infographic (options to consider: Canva or Piktochart) or Presentation (options to consider: PowerPoint or Prezi) that explores one of the three automated search systems found in the modern forensic laboratory.

As you prepare, be sure to consider the following issues:

The history of the system about which you choose to write.
A description of how that system operates.
A discussion of the pros and cons of the system.