Neutrality’ of Science

The growth of another aspect of State repressive machinery is hardly going to make a stir in Northern Ireland where Courts aren’t of much importance if the Brits or the RUC want a conviction — and where such things as trials and the bringing of charges are unnecessary and irrelevant to them.

However on November 7th a 19 year old Co. Tyrone man Patrick MacKearney was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. The evidence used to convict him was a finger-print on an unexploded bomb.

Las month an International Conference on the science of fingerprinting was organised by the British Home Office, Police Scientific Development Branch (PDSB) led by Ken Millard. Once again Britain, that haven of ‘democracy’ demonstrated that it was ahead of even the USA in some fingerprinting techniques. In 2—3 years Millard says, police computers will automatically read, classify and match fresh finger-prints with past records. There are already specialist collections for housebreaking,. fraud, and what are termed ‘other serious offences’. The computerisation is also taking place in West Germany, Sweden, NEW REGIMENT Last week saw the end of the tour of oppression of the first Battalion Black Watch regiment in the Andersonstown area of Belfast.

To the surprise of everyone though they didn’t go on a rampage — as regiments normally do before they leave. The reason being that they haven't all left. For familiar faces have been spotted among the new regiment — the Fusilers, who have now started their tour of ‘duty’.

The faces recognised are some of the worst bully-boys who constantly raided houses and who were involved in the beating up of people from ten to:seventy years of age while serving with the IS A MYTH the U.S.A., Canada and other countries.

The British Police are helped by complaint technicians at the London School of Printing who are working on automatic finger-printing machines and South Hampton University where Dr. G. Thomas and a team from the PDSB are researching new ways of taking prints from previously difficult materials such as fabrics, plastics and banknotes.

Prints on paper have been developed up to 5 years after being handled, while 30% recovery of prints on fabric after washing and wearing is possible with a new technique which makes a negative print.

Such nationally minded companies as Ferranti are also working with the Home Office on the problem of reading and coding fingerprints. Scotland Yard has now a collection of 20 million prints with over 150,000 added each year. Identification using finger prints at present is low (about 28% last year) but newer techniques such as computer systerms, are adding to the growing amount of information on individuals the police and their agents hold in data banks.

So much for the “neutrality” of science in government machinery.