Experience Brief:
Forensic Consultant 2001-Present
Fingerprint Investigations
Assistant Administrator – (Retired) – Laboratory Services Bureau
Phoenix Police Department
35 Years of Service
Latent Print Specialist – Phoenix Police Department
Identification Technician – FBI – Washington, D.C
Responsible for the Quality Assurance Program of the: collection, preservation, comparison, and courtroom presentation of physical evidence.
Arizona Department of Public Safety AzAFIS (AFIS) Site Manager
Education:
FBI Academy
B.S. – Northern Arizona University
With over 40 years’ experience in the field of fingerprint identification Frank Rodgers is an internationally recognized fingerprint expert and leading crime scene examiner.
With his extensive experience and expertise in forensic science, Mr. Rodgers is a highly sought-after fingerprint witness, and his testimony has been instrumental in securing numerous convictions in court.
He has worked on a wide range of case including high-profile crimes, homicides, sexual assaults, and robberies.
Testimonials:
A distinct identification marker
Fingerprinting, a form of biometrics, utilizes individuals’ physical or biological characteristics to establish their identity. Unlike any other characteristic, fingerprints remain distinct, even among identical twins. These patterns remain unchanged throughout a person’s life, except in cases where the deep or ‘basal’ layer is damaged or intentionally modified through plastic surgery.
The intricacies of arches, loops, and whorls, including their shape, size, number, and arrangement of minor details, render each fingerprint entirely unique.
Facilitating matches
When a fingerprint is discovered at a crime scene, it is referred to as a ‘latent print.’ Comparing these prints to others in police databases can potentially connect a series of crimes or place a suspect at the scene of a crime. AFIS operates an international fingerprint database known as the automatic fingerprint identification system. Authorized users in member countries can cross-reference records from their respective national fingerprint databases with AFIS, especially when an international aspect to the crime is suspected. AFIS encompasses over 220,000 fingerprint records and more than 17,000 crime scene marks.
Technological advancements and innovation
Through the AFIS gateway, users receive prompt results for their checks:
- For individuals who are unknown in the database, results are obtained in just a few minutes (automatic search).
- For individuals already known in the database, results are generated in approximately an hour (semi-automatic search).
- For unidentified latent prints from crime scenes, results are obtained in about an hour (manual process).
The automated process empowers the database to conduct over 3,000 comparisons per day and extends its capabilities to searching and filing palm prints. In the future, the implementation of the new automated biometric identification system (ABIS) technology will further expedite and enhance search accuracy. It will seamlessly integrate with a new biometric hub, enabling streamlined searches across all forensic databases. This integrated approach will save valuable time and uncover connections that might otherwise remain unnoticed.