MACON, Ga. — These days technology sort of 'does it all.' But, when it comes to fingerprints, someone still has to analyze the data the computer generates.
Cpl. Jeff Pettis, a forensics investigator with the Bibb County Sheriff's Office, will say it is a meticulous and tedious job.
"You've got left loop, right loop. You got whirls. You got arches," Pettis says as he looks over prints on a computer screen.
He has been doing this for decades.
"We used to sit at a table in a back office, and we used to have to get the print cards from suspects," Pettis said.
These days, a lot of prints are already stored in the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). Investigators across the country upload prints to the online system so they can be shared.
The computer will generate about a dozen "similar" prints when an investigator is searching for a duplicate, but people like Pettis still have to match them manually.
"They don't match it up for you, I have to sit there and match it up myself," Pettis said.
He says some days it's easy, and some days it's not.
"Some months you don't get nothing," Pettis said.
But in May, Pettis matched about half a dozen prints that lead to arrests in a Perry murder case by eliminating potential suspects — a robbery and a car theft to name a few.
"I've been involved in several major cases and all... and it makes you feel good to know that you were able to identify a print to give the investigators the tool to go and interview the person... and all and find out why their prints were at the scene," Pettis said.
Pettis says he analyzes fingerprints for cases in Bibb and several surrounding counties that do not have crime labs of their own.