3 ms·

Sounded something like parallel construction to me. We think it’s this guy and we can match a small portion of his fingerprint with the picture. Maybe it’s st

• sirclueless 8y ago
  This is not parallel construction, assuming their "other reasons" for suspecting these people are legitimate and disclosed. Parallel construction is when law enforcement receives information about a crime in an illegal way or a way that cannot be disclosed, and reconstructs a plausible way in which the crime might have been discovered. This is just building enough evidence to convict someone based on matching a photograph of a partial finger to a suspect's hand. Which sounds perfectly reasonable and legitimate (as legitimate as fingerprints can be). Just because there's not enough in the photo to match a national database doesn't mean there's not enough to be statistically certain it's a match with the suspect.
  • rubyfan 8y ago
    That’s why I said “something like”, it’s not quite parallel construction but something like I already know it was you, and I can see part of your fingerprint in this photo The article is light on details about how the fingerprint was actually used so one can only speculate. My assumption here though is that whatever they recovered wouldn’t stand up on its own but used in conjunction with other evidence it might have added to the case against the parties. It’s hardly as impressive as the article title makes it out to be.