Nonetheless, the forgeries were detected under close examination using forensic document examination principles and techniques. As technology continues to improve, document examiners keep abreast of such changes through actual casework and endless studies.

During the conference, one presenter lectured on ethics and integrity. I looked up a quote he made and found that it appears to have originated from Alan Simpson, former U.S. Senator.

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”

In my opinion, that pretty much sums up integrity. There are those that have it, and those that don’t.

Most signatures include the full written name of an individual, which provides many facets of letters, strokes, connectors and placements to examine. A recent case study involved only two initials as the normal course of business signature on the disputed document. However, at times the writer also used a full signature as his normal course of business signature. This provided a challenge for not only the document examiner, but the client as well.

Finding an adequate number of two-initial signatures to provide for the document examination proved challenging for the client. And having a limited number of verifiable two-initial signatures to examine limited the conclusion in this case. Adequate, comparable exemplars are paramount to this type of document examination. As a result, an unqualified opinion was not possible in this case.

It is the opinion of this document examiner that the use of only two initials as one’s normal course of business signature may provide an easier signature for an attempted forgery. The use of initials gives the forger only one, two or three letters to imitate versus needing to simulate all the letters in a full signature. This is not to say that forensic document examiners are unable to detect forged initials. Each writer possesses unique handwriting characteristics which are as individual as the person themselves. Many legal documents utilize initials and a document examiner is often called upon to examine initials with successful results.

It took a few moments to register what was happening, and then I asked if they were questioning my signature? I had to laugh and told them that I was a Forensic Document Examiner and Handwriting Expert and handed them my business card. Then, I remembered that I had changed the way I wrote my ‘D’ a couple of years ago and that is why my signature card was different.

I laughed again, but thanked them for making sure my signature was correct and added that if they ever had any questions about someone’s signature to give me a call. The teller kept my business card…

How ironic! A Document Examiner’s own signature was in question. LOL

This case took several hours to examine and compare each and every letter and word in the questioned document. However, the forger’s innate characteristics could not be completely eliminated in the disguised writing, though he did try. Upon a thorough document examination, the forger was identified.

You work with employees whom you consider friends, however, that is not always the case. Identity theft took a twisted turn in a case where someone took countless insert cards that are inserted between the pages of magazines, maliciously filled them out with a fellow employee’s name and address, and submitted the postage-paid insert cards for magazine subscriptions.

The victim’s mailbox was soon bombarded with hundreds of magazines and the resulting subscription invoices. I was hired to identify the perpetrator. The client had a good idea who did the nasty deed and was able to provide adequate handwriting samples of the suspect. As a result, I was able to identify the guilty party and help put a stop to the injustice…

If you would like to read the article, here is the link:
http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2007/01/31/TheStatement/The-Character.In.Characters-2687836.shtml