U.S. and Indian Law Enforcement Build Security Partnership

New Delhi | May 20, 2011

NEW DELHI – As part of the ongoing effort to expand our counterterror partnership, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs today concluded a five-day seminar for 22 Indian law enforcement officials focusing on advanced latent fingerprint collection techniques -- how to gather fingerprints left behind at crime scenes. The seminar took place at the Central Detective Training School in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Following the conclusion of the seminar, U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer remarked: “Transnational criminals and terrorist organizations threaten all countries, and training seminars such as this one are an excellent method for the U.S. and India to partner together to enhance our shared capabilities. The global, constantly evolving nature of terrorist and criminal acts requires robust cooperation and sharing of the most advanced investigative techniques between our countries to ensure culprits are successfully brought to justice. 

“Latent fingerprint forensics are but one of the many active ways in which the U.S. and India are cooperating on the issue of terrorism. While it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing litigation, an immediate example of this cooperation is the ongoing trial in Chicago of Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Another example is that after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the U.S. and India worked together to collect and analyze forensic evidence. The FBI, working side-by-side with Indian forensic specialists, sifted through the crime scene debris and successfully recovered a latent fingerprint from a fragment of a detonated improvised explosive device.  It’s this type of close collaboration that ultimately brought Ajmal Kasab to justice.”

For the training, officials from federal and state agencies across India were selected by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Bureau of Police Research and Development to participate in the seminar.  Some of the topics discussed were:

• Crime scene management and response
• Fingerprint evidence and collection
• Advanced fingerprint collection techniques
• Post-mortem collection techniques
• Practical exercises and unique case studies

The FBI maintains the world’s largest repository of biometric-supported criminal history information and partners with law enforcement agencies around the world by processing over 260 million name-based criminal inquires per day.