INTERESTING INFORMATION
This page has been designed to bring you interesting facts about items relating to document examination. Thank you for visiting.

New ORGANIZATION BEING FORMED
The Forensic Document Examiners, International is in the process of being established by me and some of my students and former students. We are making our principal goal, education and training for document examiners. We want to help document examiners develop their expertise and be able to qualify for certification.

WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
Anyone can call himself or herself a document examiner. Carefully review the background to verify the credentials of anyone who claims expertise in the field of document examination. Contact former clients to check on the expert's ability. Look for incongruities and self-aggrandizement. For example, a document examiner who has only handled a few cases and has only testified in court on several occasions cannot be the Number 1 Document Examiner in the country. Another document examiner who claims to be the Number 1 examiner has multiple felony convictions. For additional information in choosing an examiner, go to Selecting A Document Examiner.

FACTS ABOUT HANDWRITING
According to Susan A. Greenfield in Journey to the Centers of the Mind, handwriting, especially a signature, is the only universally accepted outward sign of an individual.
Your signature identifies you when you sign legal and financial documents.

Your signature can be easily forged if:                    Over-simplified Signature


• You over-simplify it.
• You have a low skill level.
• You write very slowly.
• Your signature is legible.
• You have more variety in your signature.

An oversimplified signature is one that contains few changes of direction.
It may consist of an initial instead of the first name.
A low skill level results from failure to develop the skill of writing.
Handwriting is a complex skill that takes years of practice.
Slow, meticulous writers can be imitated because forgeries are written slowly and carefully.
A signature that varies considerably is easier to imitate than one that is more consistent because a wider range of writing characteristics will match.

MAKE YOUR SIGNATURE FORGERY PROOF

To protect your signature from being forged, you should:
• Develop a complex signature with numerous changes of direction.
• Develop your handwriting skill until you attain a high level.
• Write rapidly.
• Stylize your writing. The more individual the writing, the more difficult it is to imitate.
• Be consistent in your writing.
• Use more than one style of signature: one for correspondence and one for signing financial or legal documents.
• Illegible writing is more difficult to imitate.

A SYSTEMATIC EXAMINATION OF HANDWRITING
Katherine Koppenhaver's latest publication,A Systematic Examination of Handwriting has been published and is now available for purchase. This book has been designed as a workbook for document examiners. It covers all the steps necessary to complete a questioned handwriting case from the first contact by a client to cross-examination in court. See the book section of this website for information on how to purchase this book.

IDENTITY THEFT FOR THE COLLEGE STUDENT
By Robert Baier
Robert Baier's book on Identity Theft should be read by anyone who could become a victim of Identity Theft and not just college students. Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in the world because it is easy to obtain personal information from anywhere in the world. The Internet makes it difficult to catch the thieves who steal someone's good name. Robert Baier's book offers many suggestions to protect you from becoming a victim as well as information on what to do if you do become a victim. I highly recommend this book to everyone. You can order the book from Mr. Baier from his website Expertdocumentexaminer and click on Identity Theft.

Robert Backman
Robert Backman died on April 6, 2009. He was the curator of the Handwriting Analysis Research Library (H.A.R.L.) located in Greenfield, Massachusetts is a repository of books and articles related to handwriting. The library began as the personal collection of Bob Backman in 1937.