Tenprint Requirements

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Tenprint Fingerprint Certification Requirements

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Certification Requirements

For upcoming changes, see the Latest News from the Tenprint Certification Board

Section 1. REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION

I. General Qualifications

  1. An applicant for certification must be of good moral character, high integrity, good repute, and possess a high ethical and professional standing.
  2. An applicant must sign in the appropriate places on the IAI application for certification form indicating that they have read, understand and are bound by the IAI Code of Ethics and Standards for Professional Conduct.
  3. An applicant must be prepared to take the exam within 90 days upon approval of their application.

II. Technical Requirements

  1. An applicant for certification must have acquired a minimum of eighty (80) hours of board approved continuing education training in Tenprint related subject matter, to include a minimum of sixteen (16) hours of Board-approved training in courtroom testimony.

III. Basic Experience Requirements

  1. An applicant for certification must have a minimum of two (2) years full-time experience in the examination of tenprints and other tenprint-related matters.

IV. Endorsements

  1. An applicant for certification must submit two letters of endorsements:
    • If the applicant is employed by a public law enforcement agency, one letter shall be from a superior within the applicant's department or agency. The second letter shall be from an individual in the field of fingerprints who is a member of an IAI state or regional division and/or the parent body.
    • If the applicant is in private practice, both letters shall be from employees of governmental agencies within the Criminal Justice System, provided that one of the two shall be from the field of fingerprints and is a member of an IAI state or regional division and/or parent body.


Section 2 EXAMINATIONS

The applicant shall have 5 hours to complete parts I, II & III of the test. The test comprises the following:

I. Comparisons

An applicant shall be required to complete a minimum of 16 out of 20 single fingerprint comparisons. Comparisons will either be identification or exclusion. Results are graded as Pass/Fail.

II. Written Examination

The written portion of the exam will consist of 100 questions. Questions shall be in the form of multiple choice and true/false. The question portion covers the permanence/uniqueness of fingerprints, history of fingerprints, pattern interpretation, classification, AFIS, Livescan, ridgeology, OSAC, criteria for Daubert and Frye, FRE 702 and the four studies linked under the Additional Reading Materials section on the TPCB Homepage. Applicants must score 80% to pass this portion of the test. Results are graded as Pass/Fail.
Recommended reading material includes: The Science of Fingerprints, U.S. Justice Department (chapters 1-4, 8-10), Quantitative - Qualitative Friction Ridge Analysis, David R. Ashbaugh (chapters 1-4), and The Fingerprint Sourcebook, US Department of Justice (chapters 1-6, 9, and 13), OSAC, Criteria for Daubert and Frye, FRE 702 and the four studies linked under the Additional Reading Materials section on the TPCB Homepage.

III. Technical Examination

The technical examination is intended to ensure that the applicant fully understands and can demonstrate ability to obtain and evaluate tenprint records for accuracy and quality.


Section 3 PASS/FAIL REQUIREMENTS

  1. An applicant for certification who does not complete or who fails the test must wait six (6) months from the test date before reapplying.
  2. An applicant that has previously passed a portion of the exam but fails to reapply within one year will be required to retake all portions of the exam.
  3. An applicant for certification who reapplies must submit a new application with all attachments, as well as any fee that may be in effect at that time.
  4. An applicant for certification who does not complete or who fails any part of the test must retake that section of the exam which was incomplete or failed.


Section 4 RECERTIFICATION

  1. All applicants for recertification must accumulate 80 Continuing Education/Professional Development Credits since initial certification or recertification.
  2. All Certified Tenprint Examiners must reapply for certification prior to their (5) five year expiration date. Failure to reapply prior to the expiration date will disqualify the applicant from taking the recertification exam and they will be required to take the full certification exam.
  3. The recertification exam will consist of:
    • An applicant shall be required to correctly identify or exclude a minimum of sixteen (16) of the single tenprint impressions with no erroneous identifications or exclusions. Results are graded as Pass/Fail.
  4. Applicants that fail the recertification exam will be required to retake the failed portion after 6 months.
  5. The applicant has 30 days to complete the recertification exam, failure to return the test within 30 days will result in a recertification failure and the applicant will be required to retake the full certification exam after a 6 months.