October 21, 2025 • 25 mins
UK Fingerprint are the UK's leading Fingerprint company. Nigel Parsons talks to Tova Copeman, who describes her work throughout the UK and Europe, taking fingerprints and accommodating the broad spectrum of clients from private and corporate arenas who require fingerprints taken for regulatory purposes
Tova discusses the multinational makeup of the company's staff and language abilities that enable them to work in Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Poland and Morocco
You can find out more about UK Fingerprint at ukfingerprint.co.uk
or call them on 020 7158 0332
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(00:05):
Welcome to Detective Diaries, brought to you
by Private Detective's Answers investigation.
If you're captivated by the art of deduction,
the thrill of solving unsolvable, or the enigmatic world
of private investigation, you have just
found your new favorite podcast.
Detective Diaries are where secrets are unraveled,
(00:27):
and the truth is always a clue away.
Presented by Private Detective Answers investigation,
each episode contains of big conversations
about the real people involved in investigation.
Welcome back to Detective Diaries.
(00:50):
Fingerprint identification has been around for more than 100 years.
Today, I'm with Torva Copen, who
manages the fingerprint operation of UK Fingerprint.
Torva, for those listening, tell us about you
and about UK Fingerprint.
Yeah, so I am Torva.
I am a fingerprint technician, and I studied
(01:15):
criminology and forensics as my undergrad.
I just finished my Master's in Promenol Psychology,
and I helped run the UK Fingerprint company,
which are a business which helps clients
get their fingerprint taken for both civil reasons
and forensic.
(01:36):
We also deal with corporate clients, like banks.
So how do you get started in this field?
I mean, is it what you always wanted to do, or--
Yeah, and actually that, because when I was younger,
and you know you go to school and they tell you,
oh, what do you want to be when you grow up?
I always knew that I wanted to be a police officer
(01:59):
or be in this sort of field.
And then from there, the interest just grew.
And when I did biology in my A-levels,
the science side became more of an interest for me.
And then obviously I went to uni, did forensic science.
And from then, I knew that was something
that I enjoyed, and I loved being in a lab coat.
(02:23):
So hey, I'll go back to school.
So really, that career is advising.
He said, oh, I want to be a police officer.
He was older, 15 years old, or whatever.
What was their reaction?
Oh, not another one.
Yeah, really.
There was not much of an interest in it from them.
(02:44):
I think it was quite a popular career to go to when you grow up,
because obviously you see them, and they all look scary,
or you're inspired by them.
I want to help the public.
I want to be that person who walks around with my uniform on,
and everyone else is scared of me.
But I think it was, for me, it was because a lot of my family
(03:07):
have gone through the police route,
and there's a lot of history there with the MOD.
And my uncle was a chief superintendent.
So it's always been sort of drilled into me ever
since I was born of that interest.
But you're not a police officer.
So what happened was it was something
that you were studying biology in your 11th class?
(03:29):
Yeah.
I mean, there was--
I always was very good at science when I was younger,
and I decided to take that opportunity and use it,
because fitness wasn't exactly my strongest suit
when I was younger.
So I went for the science route,
and then found that I enjoyed it actually a lot more.
(03:52):
And now I'm very happy with where I am.
The MOD is UK fingerprint data.
I mean, you can tell a lot by the name, but what?
Yeah, so UK fingerprint, we take fingerprints for clients,
specifically for more civil reasons,
(04:13):
so that can be for applications for visas,
police criminal records, certificates,
anything like that.
And that essentially means that when you have lived elsewhere
in the world for a certain amount of time,
you will need to get your criminal records
certificate when applying for jobs or getting a visa,
(04:35):
anything like that to show that you
didn't have a criminal record when you were in that country.
So they would take your fingerprints,
or we would take your fingerprints,
and then that country would take those fingerprints and see
that there's none on their record.
So like a DVS or disclosure bar,
(04:57):
and you could see the UK?
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
OK, OK.
Toilet, you look far too young to remember the boomtown
wrecks, and I don't like Mondays.
So what's a Monday for you?
A Monday for me is probably like a lot of Mondays for everyone else,
incredibly busy, dealing with inquiries
from over the weekend, updating the full services,
(05:20):
to make sure that everything's been sent off,
processing them, tracking, because on a Monday,
we have all our clients from full service applications
who are asking for an update, or what's happening with it.
So we then have to track them all, as well as scheduling
my other colleagues into the rest of the week.
(05:42):
You use the word full service applications.
So that sounds a bit more than just taking some of your fingerprints.
So we can do one of two things.
We, specifically, depending on the country,
we can always take fingerprints for any country
in the world wherever needed.
However, for some countries, we can actually do a full service,
(06:04):
which means that we would apply and do everything on that carf,
so that they don't have to lift a finger, essentially.
So we'll take their fingerprints
and we'll take copies of their IDs.
We will send them off via courier
and we'll apply for the whole process on behalf of them.
So all those processes the same, regardless of who's Canada,
(06:26):
USA or Singapore?
I wish they were.
It depends on every different country.
Every country is different.
They have different fingerprint forms.
For each country, they have different application forms
for each country and different requirements for each country.
So for example, one of the most common ones is Canada.
For Canada, they have about three different application forms
(06:49):
that you need to fill out before even getting to take
in the fingerprints.
Then you fill out the fingerprint form as well,
a lot of it with the same information on,
but Canada is just like that.
And then we would take certified copies of their IDs
and certified as when I mean we will certify
those photo copies of their IDs just to show
(07:11):
that they've essentially been notarized
by a recognized company, aka us.
And then we would send them off to Canada.
With other countries, it can be different.
So for the US, it is essentially just a application online,
which takes about 20 minutes and then you send the fingerprints off.
(07:32):
So the difference between the country is very specific.
There's not two countries with the same application process.
Well, that sounds like a lot of admin
and it sounds like a pede acknowledge of the quirks
of every different country,
in every different jurisdiction of administration.
So admin aside, how hands-on is the whole process?
(07:56):
I mean, how hands-on are you?
Just putting people in places and doing the admin.
I would like to say I'm still very hands-on.
I like to be very hands-on because that is what I came here to do.
The general day is very hands-on.
(08:17):
I mean, even though there's loads of admin,
we will have 20 plus clients a day in our London offices,
specifically.
We will have probably around five to 10 clients a day
in our hazelmoor office.
So that's constant fingerprinting, dealing with them,
helping them fill out the application forms.
(08:39):
Since I've been scheduling my colleagues,
I've had to take a step back because I'm obviously now managing people.
But I still try to be as hands-on as I can,
just because that's what I enjoy the most.
And I love speaking to clients and I love taking their fingerprints
and making sure that they're OK because some clients
(09:01):
can get quite nervous about it, especially when we put the gloves on
and the lab coat on and they suddenly think,
"Oh, what's going on?
This is quite scary, but it's nice to be able to reassure them
and let them know that it's absolutely fine."
Hi, I'm Georgia.
(09:21):
Tune in to hear more about Generation Next,
developed by young professionals, four young professionals,
and how to not get catfished.
Listen here on Detective Diaries.
OK, so I want to be a fingerprint technician.
(09:43):
I mean, basically, you sold me on the basis of gloves and lab coat.
The only thing that's a vision in one's head is just a normal one.
But I want to be a fingerprint technician.
Who's your ideal candidate?
I mean, you've got a bank in New York.
What are you looking for?
I think to be a fingerprint technician,
(10:04):
the skills can very easily be learned.
What can't be learned as much is the customer service.
We are very specific on our customer service
and how we treat our clients.
We prioritize building a rapport with them
and building that trust in them when they do come in.
(10:26):
They don't feel as nervous,
and they feel comfortable with us,
obviously dealing with their fingers and their hands
and their documents in private, personal information.
So I would say my ideal candidate would be someone
with good customer service who knows how to talk to people
(10:51):
in a professional way, but also a trusting manner.
Someone who's quite confident because we do have to speak
to a lot of people, both in person and on the phone.
So they need to be confident in what they know.
And if they don't know something, then it's nice to know
that they can just hand them over to someone else
(11:13):
and handle the problem efficiently and professionally.
OK, so I'm your new fingerprint technician.
I've just taken some of these fingerprints.
Trust me, there is fingerprint-print on the wall.
And on the table, on the floor, and probably on the office of.
I bring them to you to say check them.
I mean, they'll see me have that quality control
(11:36):
across checking and so forth.
And you have just seen the most abysmal blotch
of ink on a form.
What happens next?
So in that case, I would probably tell my colleague
to sort, to take a step back just to save the client
(11:56):
and my colleague will be a little bit of embarrassment
in front of the client to keep it professional.
I would just say there's been some issues with the fingerprint.
I'm going to have a try and see how they come out.
Hopefully they'll turn out fine, all great, all perfect.
And then once the client has left,
I would then speak to the colleague and get them to practice.
(12:19):
So what would happen if you sent them a fingerprint sent?
A set of fingerprints that were just not good enough
off to something like the FBI or the South African police service
or wherever they ended up with?
What would happen?
I mean, essentially, they would just get rejected
and then we would have to redo the process.
However, I am quite the perfectionist,
(12:43):
which I would like to blag and say
that's probably one of the best qualities about this job,
even though it can be a bit of a pain when I have to hold a client back
for about an extra 20 minutes because I want the perfect set of prints.
But it means that we don't have to go through that issue
of the fingerprints getting rejected
(13:03):
and us having to do the whole process again
because it means the client has to wait even longer
and the waiting times are already very long for most countries
and clients obviously want their certificates as soon as possible.
Do you get many rejected?
No.
No, I think in my time, we've only, I've only ever seen one application rejected
(13:26):
and that was purely the cause of the client's age
because when you get older, depending on what you've done as a career in your life,
so for example, this client was a nurse for a long, long time
and so dealing with all the chemicals
and washing their hands constantly and thoroughly,
(13:46):
it sort of damaged her fingerprints so that there's a lot of scarring
and the ridges and the wells aren't as defined as they should be,
which meant that they can actually read the fingerprints in the record.
So it meant that we tried three times and all three times they were rejected
because they weren't defined enough,
(14:08):
but because it wasn't down to us or the client,
it was due to obviously the circumstances,
it just means that we had to get a letter of rejection from the US,
which was absolutely fine.
We basically just said that due to her career and her age,
the fingerprints just aren't there anymore, unfortunately.
(14:30):
And so they would then get a letter of rejection,
which meant that that's kind of another version of a certificate,
but it's more just to say it lets them off when going for employment or visa or anything
because it says that due to unexplained circumstances,
we couldn't get a police clearance to them.
(14:52):
No, it's good that there's a system there to cope with her.
You've mentioned 20 plus people a day in different offices,
sounds like an awful lot.
Is it all just members of the public?
No, so we actually deal with both private clients and corporate clients.
I would say about 70% of them are probably private clients.
(15:15):
However, we do have some big long-withstanding contracts with companies
that are very well known to the public and to our listeners.
However, I can't disclose those, obviously, unfortunately.
But for our corporate clients,
they normally get their fingerprints taken with us for three main reasons,
for Finra, for gaming licenses and for liqueur licenses.
(15:40):
Is that just in England, just in the UK, just in London?
No, so we have had technicians travel all around the world to Poland,
to Romania, to France, to Spain, Italy, to Morocco,
even anywhere that the corporate needs us to go.
You talked about some big institutions.
(16:03):
I mean, is that just a few people, executives,
that you can live in the ivory tower and the top?
Is it much bigger numbers sometimes?
Oh, yeah, it can be...
It can range between a small company who have just started out
or it can range for big financial companies like banks
(16:23):
or betting companies even.
I mean, we had one corporate client
where they had a ton of brand new employees
and they asked us to fingerprint all of them.
Oh, older than, I mean, how many is that?
We fingerprinted over a thousand employees in both London and Glasgow in masses.
(16:47):
Good head and sound, how long did that take?
A good few weeks.
Well...
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(17:32):
Tov, I saw you this morning taking some of these fingerprints.
It didn't look like the most easiest of circumstances.
I mean, there were a couple who were quite nervous about what they were doing.
I'm worried about getting all the admin and the forms right
and you see the help that was through, but it wasn't helped by their twin-sixuals, of course, and chaos.
And then a few minutes later, the couple are laughing and the kids are doing coloring books.
(17:59):
I mean, is that usual?
Yeah, it is. A lot of families obviously will need to bring their kids
because if they're them and their partner need fingerprints taken,
then obviously the appointment is only going to last half an hour, 40 minutes.
So we will happily have their kids with them.
(18:19):
We have actually a little staff of coloring books with some coloring crayons
and that sort of seems to put not just the kids at ease, but the parents
they're not worrying about the kids causing chaos or touching things they shouldn't.
The kids will happily sit on my chair at my desk and do some coloring
or either that or they'll be absolutely fascinated by the fingerprints
(18:42):
and they'll want me to give them a little bit of a fingerprint session,
which I do sometimes if they ask nicely.
So the kids get the fingerprints taken too?
Yeah, if they ask nicely.
We have these little fingerprint cards, so I'll just give them a little thumb prints
just something that they can take home with them as well as the coloring books
(19:05):
and something to give and make them happy.
What a brilliant souvenir.
Yeah, I think so. Speaking of coloring books, we had this one family come in
and the kids were so sweet, they weren't actually bad at all.
They were just so fascinated by everything like in the room
(19:26):
because we've got mugs with fingerprints on them, we've got a wards,
we've got lab coats hanging up and the ink sheets on our desks,
they were absolutely fascinated.
And I tried giving them a coloring book to sort of keep them occupied
and sort of make sure that the parents weren't worried about
and touching things they shouldn't. And they were just more fascinated by me fingerprinting
(19:52):
their mum or dad. And one of them actually took, he took my lanyard off my desk
because he was already set at my desk and this little boy must have only been about four or five
and my colleague and I were in the room making priccation as I was fingerprinting his parents.
And he suddenly decided that he wanted to be a teacher and he started bossing everyone around
(20:17):
and using my pen and some random fingerprint form that he found on the table
that I had pre-printed off and started writing all little scribbles
and started telling my boss what to do and to be a student
that he got really bad grades and it was just, it was really funny, everyone was laughing.
(20:38):
He was the spotlight of the appointment.
So fun for the clients who fun for you too?
Yeah, it makes a change to have a laugh with the client and sort of hear their stories
as well as just having a laugh with the kids and making sure that they're okay.
(20:59):
It's nice to know that they've walked away all happy.
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Is anybody there?
I'm Harry Watts.
I'm an audio technician and a private investigator.
Hear me on Detective Diaries telling you about enhancing poor quality audio recordings
(21:21):
to make them clear and audible.
Tova, there's a little thing for my curiosity but,
during your colleagues, I've heard some quite different accents which is quite normal in life
but is there anybody who's actually English who wrote this?
(21:44):
Yeah, so obviously I'm Norwegian.
We've got Adina, who's a Romanian, Ivana, who's Slovakian
and Harry and Jess, they're English.
So we do have some English but even Etienne, she grew up in Singapore.
It sounds like a wide diversity and a lot of different experiences.
Does that help given that you're dealing with applications and applicants from a lot of different countries?
(22:10):
Yeah, actually it does because in some sort of way or another,
there will be most likely there will be one of us who can relate to a client
because we've had multiple experience in other countries
so it's nice to have that it helped build that report with our clients
when there's someone here who's even been to that country
(22:33):
or knows what they're talking about and understands them.
So as an example, we actually worked for one of the biggest gambling companies in the world
whose main office is in Bucharest in Romania.
It's only natural that obviously when we travel to Bucharest
to think of putting their employees at masses,
the Adina should be there as she is native to that country and it puts people at their ease
(22:56):
because she can speak their native language.
Tova, that's a fascinating insight.
How can we get in touch with you?
So if you'd like to get in touch, you can visit our website at UKFingerprint.co.uk
and that's with Altoness on the end.
Or you can even ring us on 02071580332.
(23:19):
So what's the rest of the week hold for you?
Updating clients, fingerprinting clients and scheduling my lucky colleagues.
Fantastic.
So, but thank you for talking as ever.
Will you come back soon?
Of course, anytime.
You have a good week and enjoy printing people.
I shall.
We hope you enjoyed today's podcast,
(23:46):
brought to you by Ansys Investigation and UK fingerprint.
If you've enjoyed our conversation and want to learn more about the fascinating world of investigations,
be sure to check out private detectives Ansys Investigation.
Their experience team offers a wide range of discrete and professional services,
helping you find the answers you need with integrity and expertise.
(24:08):
If you're interested in fingerprint analysis or require specialist fingerprint services,
don't miss UK fingerprint.
As one of the leading fingerprint companies in the UK,
they provide everything from identification to background checks,
working with individuals, businesses, financial institutions and gambling companies.
To find out more, visit www.private-detectives.co.uk.
(24:33):
That's a minor sign.
And www.ukfingerprint.co.uk
These are your go-to resources for investigative solutions and fingerprint expertise.
You can call their office on 02-0-7158-0332.
Thanks once again for tuning in.
(24:54):
Until next time, stay curious and keep seeking the truth.
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(00:05):
Welcome to Detective Diaries, brought to you
by Private Detective's Answers investigation.
If you're captivated by the art of deduction,
the thrill of solving unsolvable, or the enigmatic world
of private investigation, you have just
found your new favorite podcast.
Detective Diaries are where secrets are unraveled,
(00:27):
and the truth is always a clue away.
Presented by Private Detective Answers investigation,
each episode contains of big conversations
about the real people involved in investigation.
Welcome back to Detective Diaries.
(00:50):
Fingerprint identification has been around for more than 100 years.
Today, I'm with Torva Copen, who
manages the fingerprint operation of UK Fingerprint.
Torva, for those listening, tell us about you
and about UK Fingerprint.
Yeah, so I am Torva.
I am a fingerprint technician, and I studied
(01:15):
criminology and forensics as my undergrad.
I just finished my Master's in Promenol Psychology,
and I helped run the UK Fingerprint company,
which are a business which helps clients
get their fingerprint taken for both civil reasons
and forensic.
(01:36):
We also deal with corporate clients, like banks.
So how do you get started in this field?
I mean, is it what you always wanted to do, or--
Yeah, and actually that, because when I was younger,
and you know you go to school and they tell you,
oh, what do you want to be when you grow up?
I always knew that I wanted to be a police officer
(01:59):
or be in this sort of field.
And then from there, the interest just grew.
And when I did biology in my A-levels,
the science side became more of an interest for me.
And then obviously I went to uni, did forensic science.
And from then, I knew that was something
that I enjoyed, and I loved being in a lab coat.
(02:23):
So hey, I'll go back to school.
So really, that career is advising.
He said, oh, I want to be a police officer.
He was older, 15 years old, or whatever.
What was their reaction?
Oh, not another one.
Yeah, really.
There was not much of an interest in it from them.
(02:44):
I think it was quite a popular career to go to when you grow up,
because obviously you see them, and they all look scary,
or you're inspired by them.
I want to help the public.
I want to be that person who walks around with my uniform on,
and everyone else is scared of me.
But I think it was, for me, it was because a lot of my family
(03:07):
have gone through the police route,
and there's a lot of history there with the MOD.
And my uncle was a chief superintendent.
So it's always been sort of drilled into me ever
since I was born of that interest.
But you're not a police officer.
So what happened was it was something
that you were studying biology in your 11th class?
(03:29):
Yeah.
I mean, there was--
I always was very good at science when I was younger,
and I decided to take that opportunity and use it,
because fitness wasn't exactly my strongest suit
when I was younger.
So I went for the science route,
and then found that I enjoyed it actually a lot more.
(03:52):
And now I'm very happy with where I am.
The MOD is UK fingerprint data.
I mean, you can tell a lot by the name, but what?
Yeah, so UK fingerprint, we take fingerprints for clients,
specifically for more civil reasons,
(04:13):
so that can be for applications for visas,
police criminal records, certificates,
anything like that.
And that essentially means that when you have lived elsewhere
in the world for a certain amount of time,
you will need to get your criminal records
certificate when applying for jobs or getting a visa,
(04:35):
anything like that to show that you
didn't have a criminal record when you were in that country.
So they would take your fingerprints,
or we would take your fingerprints,
and then that country would take those fingerprints and see
that there's none on their record.
So like a DVS or disclosure bar,
(04:57):
and you could see the UK?
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
OK, OK.
Toilet, you look far too young to remember the boomtown
wrecks, and I don't like Mondays.
So what's a Monday for you?
A Monday for me is probably like a lot of Mondays for everyone else,
incredibly busy, dealing with inquiries
from over the weekend, updating the full services,
(05:20):
to make sure that everything's been sent off,
processing them, tracking, because on a Monday,
we have all our clients from full service applications
who are asking for an update, or what's happening with it.
So we then have to track them all, as well as scheduling
my other colleagues into the rest of the week.
(05:42):
You use the word full service applications.
So that sounds a bit more than just taking some of your fingerprints.
So we can do one of two things.
We, specifically, depending on the country,
we can always take fingerprints for any country
in the world wherever needed.
However, for some countries, we can actually do a full service,
(06:04):
which means that we would apply and do everything on that carf,
so that they don't have to lift a finger, essentially.
So we'll take their fingerprints
and we'll take copies of their IDs.
We will send them off via courier
and we'll apply for the whole process on behalf of them.
So all those processes the same, regardless of who's Canada,
(06:26):
USA or Singapore?
I wish they were.
It depends on every different country.
Every country is different.
They have different fingerprint forms.
For each country, they have different application forms
for each country and different requirements for each country.
So for example, one of the most common ones is Canada.
For Canada, they have about three different application forms
(06:49):
that you need to fill out before even getting to take
in the fingerprints.
Then you fill out the fingerprint form as well,
a lot of it with the same information on,
but Canada is just like that.
And then we would take certified copies of their IDs
and certified as when I mean we will certify
those photo copies of their IDs just to show
(07:11):
that they've essentially been notarized
by a recognized company, aka us.
And then we would send them off to Canada.
With other countries, it can be different.
So for the US, it is essentially just a application online,
which takes about 20 minutes and then you send the fingerprints off.
(07:32):
So the difference between the country is very specific.
There's not two countries with the same application process.
Well, that sounds like a lot of admin
and it sounds like a pede acknowledge of the quirks
of every different country,
in every different jurisdiction of administration.
So admin aside, how hands-on is the whole process?
(07:56):
I mean, how hands-on are you?
Just putting people in places and doing the admin.
I would like to say I'm still very hands-on.
I like to be very hands-on because that is what I came here to do.
The general day is very hands-on.
(08:17):
I mean, even though there's loads of admin,
we will have 20 plus clients a day in our London offices,
specifically.
We will have probably around five to 10 clients a day
in our hazelmoor office.
So that's constant fingerprinting, dealing with them,
helping them fill out the application forms.
(08:39):
Since I've been scheduling my colleagues,
I've had to take a step back because I'm obviously now managing people.
But I still try to be as hands-on as I can,
just because that's what I enjoy the most.
And I love speaking to clients and I love taking their fingerprints
and making sure that they're OK because some clients
(09:01):
can get quite nervous about it, especially when we put the gloves on
and the lab coat on and they suddenly think,
"Oh, what's going on?
This is quite scary, but it's nice to be able to reassure them
and let them know that it's absolutely fine."
Hi, I'm Georgia.
(09:21):
Tune in to hear more about Generation Next,
developed by young professionals, four young professionals,
and how to not get catfished.
Listen here on Detective Diaries.
OK, so I want to be a fingerprint technician.
(09:43):
I mean, basically, you sold me on the basis of gloves and lab coat.
The only thing that's a vision in one's head is just a normal one.
But I want to be a fingerprint technician.
Who's your ideal candidate?
I mean, you've got a bank in New York.
What are you looking for?
I think to be a fingerprint technician,
(10:04):
the skills can very easily be learned.
What can't be learned as much is the customer service.
We are very specific on our customer service
and how we treat our clients.
We prioritize building a rapport with them
and building that trust in them when they do come in.
(10:26):
They don't feel as nervous,
and they feel comfortable with us,
obviously dealing with their fingers and their hands
and their documents in private, personal information.
So I would say my ideal candidate would be someone
with good customer service who knows how to talk to people
(10:51):
in a professional way, but also a trusting manner.
Someone who's quite confident because we do have to speak
to a lot of people, both in person and on the phone.
So they need to be confident in what they know.
And if they don't know something, then it's nice to know
that they can just hand them over to someone else
(11:13):
and handle the problem efficiently and professionally.
OK, so I'm your new fingerprint technician.
I've just taken some of these fingerprints.
Trust me, there is fingerprint-print on the wall.
And on the table, on the floor, and probably on the office of.
I bring them to you to say check them.
I mean, they'll see me have that quality control
(11:36):
across checking and so forth.
And you have just seen the most abysmal blotch
of ink on a form.
What happens next?
So in that case, I would probably tell my colleague
to sort, to take a step back just to save the client
(11:56):
and my colleague will be a little bit of embarrassment
in front of the client to keep it professional.
I would just say there's been some issues with the fingerprint.
I'm going to have a try and see how they come out.
Hopefully they'll turn out fine, all great, all perfect.
And then once the client has left,
I would then speak to the colleague and get them to practice.
(12:19):
So what would happen if you sent them a fingerprint sent?
A set of fingerprints that were just not good enough
off to something like the FBI or the South African police service
or wherever they ended up with?
What would happen?
I mean, essentially, they would just get rejected
and then we would have to redo the process.
However, I am quite the perfectionist,
(12:43):
which I would like to blag and say
that's probably one of the best qualities about this job,
even though it can be a bit of a pain when I have to hold a client back
for about an extra 20 minutes because I want the perfect set of prints.
But it means that we don't have to go through that issue
of the fingerprints getting rejected
(13:03):
and us having to do the whole process again
because it means the client has to wait even longer
and the waiting times are already very long for most countries
and clients obviously want their certificates as soon as possible.
Do you get many rejected?
No.
No, I think in my time, we've only, I've only ever seen one application rejected
(13:26):
and that was purely the cause of the client's age
because when you get older, depending on what you've done as a career in your life,
so for example, this client was a nurse for a long, long time
and so dealing with all the chemicals
and washing their hands constantly and thoroughly,
(13:46):
it sort of damaged her fingerprints so that there's a lot of scarring
and the ridges and the wells aren't as defined as they should be,
which meant that they can actually read the fingerprints in the record.
So it meant that we tried three times and all three times they were rejected
because they weren't defined enough,
(14:08):
but because it wasn't down to us or the client,
it was due to obviously the circumstances,
it just means that we had to get a letter of rejection from the US,
which was absolutely fine.
We basically just said that due to her career and her age,
the fingerprints just aren't there anymore, unfortunately.
(14:30):
And so they would then get a letter of rejection,
which meant that that's kind of another version of a certificate,
but it's more just to say it lets them off when going for employment or visa or anything
because it says that due to unexplained circumstances,
we couldn't get a police clearance to them.
(14:52):
No, it's good that there's a system there to cope with her.
You've mentioned 20 plus people a day in different offices,
sounds like an awful lot.
Is it all just members of the public?
No, so we actually deal with both private clients and corporate clients.
I would say about 70% of them are probably private clients.
(15:15):
However, we do have some big long-withstanding contracts with companies
that are very well known to the public and to our listeners.
However, I can't disclose those, obviously, unfortunately.
But for our corporate clients,
they normally get their fingerprints taken with us for three main reasons,
for Finra, for gaming licenses and for liqueur licenses.
(15:40):
Is that just in England, just in the UK, just in London?
No, so we have had technicians travel all around the world to Poland,
to Romania, to France, to Spain, Italy, to Morocco,
even anywhere that the corporate needs us to go.
You talked about some big institutions.
(16:03):
I mean, is that just a few people, executives,
that you can live in the ivory tower and the top?
Is it much bigger numbers sometimes?
Oh, yeah, it can be...
It can range between a small company who have just started out
or it can range for big financial companies like banks
(16:23):
or betting companies even.
I mean, we had one corporate client
where they had a ton of brand new employees
and they asked us to fingerprint all of them.
Oh, older than, I mean, how many is that?
We fingerprinted over a thousand employees in both London and Glasgow in masses.
(16:47):
Good head and sound, how long did that take?
A good few weeks.
Well...
Get involved!
Detective Diaries is interactive, which involves you, the listener.
Do you have a case you'd like discussed?
A burning question about investigative life?
(17:09):
Send an email to podcast@private-detectives.co.uk
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Don't forget to leave your contact details.
(17:32):
Tov, I saw you this morning taking some of these fingerprints.
It didn't look like the most easiest of circumstances.
I mean, there were a couple who were quite nervous about what they were doing.
I'm worried about getting all the admin and the forms right
and you see the help that was through, but it wasn't helped by their twin-sixuals, of course, and chaos.
And then a few minutes later, the couple are laughing and the kids are doing coloring books.
(17:59):
I mean, is that usual?
Yeah, it is. A lot of families obviously will need to bring their kids
because if they're them and their partner need fingerprints taken,
then obviously the appointment is only going to last half an hour, 40 minutes.
So we will happily have their kids with them.
(18:19):
We have actually a little staff of coloring books with some coloring crayons
and that sort of seems to put not just the kids at ease, but the parents
they're not worrying about the kids causing chaos or touching things they shouldn't.
The kids will happily sit on my chair at my desk and do some coloring
or either that or they'll be absolutely fascinated by the fingerprints
(18:42):
and they'll want me to give them a little bit of a fingerprint session,
which I do sometimes if they ask nicely.
So the kids get the fingerprints taken too?
Yeah, if they ask nicely.
We have these little fingerprint cards, so I'll just give them a little thumb prints
just something that they can take home with them as well as the coloring books
(19:05):
and something to give and make them happy.
What a brilliant souvenir.
Yeah, I think so. Speaking of coloring books, we had this one family come in
and the kids were so sweet, they weren't actually bad at all.
They were just so fascinated by everything like in the room
(19:26):
because we've got mugs with fingerprints on them, we've got a wards,
we've got lab coats hanging up and the ink sheets on our desks,
they were absolutely fascinated.
And I tried giving them a coloring book to sort of keep them occupied
and sort of make sure that the parents weren't worried about
and touching things they shouldn't. And they were just more fascinated by me fingerprinting
(19:52):
their mum or dad. And one of them actually took, he took my lanyard off my desk
because he was already set at my desk and this little boy must have only been about four or five
and my colleague and I were in the room making priccation as I was fingerprinting his parents.
And he suddenly decided that he wanted to be a teacher and he started bossing everyone around
(20:17):
and using my pen and some random fingerprint form that he found on the table
that I had pre-printed off and started writing all little scribbles
and started telling my boss what to do and to be a student
that he got really bad grades and it was just, it was really funny, everyone was laughing.
(20:38):
He was the spotlight of the appointment.
So fun for the clients who fun for you too?
Yeah, it makes a change to have a laugh with the client and sort of hear their stories
as well as just having a laugh with the kids and making sure that they're okay.
(20:59):
It's nice to know that they've walked away all happy.
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Is anybody there?
I'm Harry Watts.
I'm an audio technician and a private investigator.
Hear me on Detective Diaries telling you about enhancing poor quality audio recordings
(21:21):
to make them clear and audible.
Tova, there's a little thing for my curiosity but,
during your colleagues, I've heard some quite different accents which is quite normal in life
but is there anybody who's actually English who wrote this?
(21:44):
Yeah, so obviously I'm Norwegian.
We've got Adina, who's a Romanian, Ivana, who's Slovakian
and Harry and Jess, they're English.
So we do have some English but even Etienne, she grew up in Singapore.
It sounds like a wide diversity and a lot of different experiences.
Does that help given that you're dealing with applications and applicants from a lot of different countries?
(22:10):
Yeah, actually it does because in some sort of way or another,
there will be most likely there will be one of us who can relate to a client
because we've had multiple experience in other countries
so it's nice to have that it helped build that report with our clients
when there's someone here who's even been to that country
(22:33):
or knows what they're talking about and understands them.
So as an example, we actually worked for one of the biggest gambling companies in the world
whose main office is in Bucharest in Romania.
It's only natural that obviously when we travel to Bucharest
to think of putting their employees at masses,
the Adina should be there as she is native to that country and it puts people at their ease
(22:56):
because she can speak their native language.
Tova, that's a fascinating insight.
How can we get in touch with you?
So if you'd like to get in touch, you can visit our website at UKFingerprint.co.uk
and that's with Altoness on the end.
Or you can even ring us on 02071580332.
(23:19):
So what's the rest of the week hold for you?
Updating clients, fingerprinting clients and scheduling my lucky colleagues.
Fantastic.
So, but thank you for talking as ever.
Will you come back soon?
Of course, anytime.
You have a good week and enjoy printing people.
I shall.
We hope you enjoyed today's podcast,
(23:46):
brought to you by Ansys Investigation and UK fingerprint.
If you've enjoyed our conversation and want to learn more about the fascinating world of investigations,
be sure to check out private detectives Ansys Investigation.
Their experience team offers a wide range of discrete and professional services,
helping you find the answers you need with integrity and expertise.
(24:08):
If you're interested in fingerprint analysis or require specialist fingerprint services,
don't miss UK fingerprint.
As one of the leading fingerprint companies in the UK,
they provide everything from identification to background checks,
working with individuals, businesses, financial institutions and gambling companies.
To find out more, visit www.private-detectives.co.uk.
(24:33):
That's a minor sign.
And www.ukfingerprint.co.uk
These are your go-to resources for investigative solutions and fingerprint expertise.
You can call their office on 02-0-7158-0332.
Thanks once again for tuning in.
(24:54):
Until next time, stay curious and keep seeking the truth.
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