Free The Tsunami File by Michael E. Rose Page B

predict who might be liable to commit criminal acts,” Smith said. “They’d been searching for a long time for ways to do that, the Victorians, with analysis of facial characteristics and measuring skull shapes and limb length or whatever, and then with fingerprints. But eventually they gave up on all of that. There’s no recurring pattern anyone’s ever been able to determine in criminal fingerprints.”
    Delaney sipped tea, wrote in his notebook. He let Smith ramble on.
    â€œBut then of course the whole business of using fingerprints to identify dead bodies is another issue altogether,” Smith said. “In a different category. As you’ve seen out here in Phuket.”
    â€œI’d like to get into that aspect a little further now,” Delaney said. “The technical side of it, getting prints from the corpses you can use in your work, that sort of thing.”
    This launched Smith into yet another lengthy monologue about the pitfalls and trials of obtaining quality finger marks from deteriorating bodies, and of obtaining quality antemortem marks from home countries. Delaney scribbled notes. Smith enthused, stopping occasionally to refuel himself with water.
    â€œIn the end, though,” Smith said, “at the end of the day, it comes down to the skill of the individual fingerprint examiners. The AFIS system is very good at winnowing down thousands of fingerprints to a handful of possible matches. Computers are fast, but they’re dumb. It’s the experienced fingerprint examiners who make the final determinations, always. If they’re any good and if they do their work properly. You can never eliminate the human factor.”
    Smith paused for a moment, allowing his captive listener to appreciate this fully.
    â€œAnd it also comes down to very rigorous record keeping,” he said. “In a big operation like this in particular.”
    â€œI take it things are going well now that the proper systems are in place out here,” Delaney said. “You’re getting a lot of fingerprint matches now.”
    â€œYes, lots,” Smith said. “Far more than DNA and dental combined, at this stage.” He smiled ever so slightly.
    â€œThat’s not always how it goes, is it?” Delaney said. “In New York City after 9/11, for example, it was almost all DNA, wasn’t it?”
    Delaney had been in New York in the months after the World Trade Center attacks, on assignment for CSIS and a Canadian magazine at the same time.
    â€œOh, well, sure, there it had to be DNA in that case because you had mostly just body parts, most of the bodies in New York were broken up, pulverized,” Smith said quickly. “It’s very different here.
    Fingerprints are still the thing.”
    â€œThat’s good news for you,” Delaney said.
    â€œOf course there are always some hitches,” Smith said. “In a big operation like this.”
    Delaney’s journalistic radar was immediately activated.
    â€œI see,” he said. “Can you give me some examples?”
    Smith hesitated. He peered at Delaney through his thick glasses. All good fingerprint specialists, he had explained to Delaney early in the interview, had ruined eyes. If they didn’t, he had said, they mustn’t be looking closely enough at their files.
    â€œYou running into problems?” Delaney asked again.
    â€œIt’s natural to have some problems in any big disaster operation, with teams coming in from all over the world,” Smith said.
    â€œBut?”
    Delaney knew, after dozens, hundreds, of interviews with officials and experts and politicians of all persuasions that something important was coming, that his interview subject wanted to say something significant, perhaps share a secret. He knew the tone shifts and the signals all too well.
    Smith hesitated again. He ran his hand over his sunburned forehead and his thinning curls. He stared at his