1 Photo
For four undergraduates in science discipline – Rosanne, Valerie, Joyce and Angela, the past summer was rather fulfilling and special. Through the Post-Secondary Student Summer Internship Programme 2020, they had been selected from over 80 candidates from numerous prestigious local and overseas universities to get a taste of a fingerprint examiner’s life in Advanced Technology Section (ATS) of Identification Bureau (IB).
The four summer interns, divided into two groups, were assigned to work on projects of different topics. Rosanne and Valerie were responsible for the validation study of a new fingerprint development technique on thermal papers. Joyce and Angela were responsible for the research study to determine the optimal examination sequence for Vacuum Metal Deposition and cyanoacrylate fuming on non-porous surfaces. Working alongside their ATS mentors, they put their scientific knowledge and logical thinking to good use in the execution of experiment plans, and successfully completed the researches with fruitful results. They were also exposed to duties similar of nature to ATS examiners and acquired hands-on experience of employing various fingerprint examination techniques in the forensic fingerprint laboratory. Furthermore, they had opportunities to visit other sections of IB, namely Computer Assisted Fingerprint Identification System Section and Scenes of Crime Section, which enhanced their understanding of the work of this unique forensic science discipline and broadened their horizons.
On September 11, the summer interns gave presentations about their research and exchanged opinions with around 30 fingerprint experts and officers of IB. “This internship experience was a valuable opportunity for me to apply the forensic knowledge I have learnt in classroom. The laboratory work also allowed me to better understand the importance of continuous improvement and teamwork,” said Valerie, a forensic science student in the United Kingdom. Angela added, “The job exposure is indeed an eye-opening experience. The attachment not only gave me an insight into the wide diversity and professionalism in police work, but also strengthened my interest in joining the Force after graduation.”
Their research findings not only assisted to validate new techniques for fingerprint detection but also provided valuable information to enhance the fingerprint examination protocol and thus assisted crime investigation. IB Senior Superintendent Chan Sing-cheong thanked the summer interns for their contributions and wished them a bright future. He stressed that, via the Post-Secondary Student Summer Internship Programme, IB would continue to encourage community participation and to enable more young people to gain more in-depth understanding about IB’s work.
