Unpicking the Mickelberg Stitch

In late 1949 at the end of the school year, Jack Billing's mother accompanied him aged 15 to the Bunbury Police Station. At that young age he was fascinated by the science of fingerprint identification.He wanted to join the Police Force.What followed was a successful career, first in general Police duties, then in the Police Scientific Branch as a photographer, fingerprint technician, questioned document examiner - and along the way a Police diver and member of the Police Bomb Squad.In...
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In late 1949 at the end of the school year, Jack Billing's mother accompanied him aged 15 to the Bunbury Police Station. At that young age he was fascinated by the science of fingerprint identification.He wanted to join the Police Force.What followed was a successful career, first in general Police duties, then in the Police Scientific Branch as a photographer, fingerprint technician, questioned document examiner - and along the way a Police diver and member of the Police Bomb Squad.In his 43 year career he built a reputation with colleagues and in the courts for being guided scrupulously by the objective evidence that a scientific approach to criminal investigations revealed - to the frustration of defendants, and at times investigators.He rose to the leadership position of Assistant Commissioner in the Western Australian Police Force, and in the 1989 Australian Honours he was awarded an Australian Police Medal in recognition for his service to policing in the state.This book is his testimony about the often misrepresented but compelling forensic evidence in one of Western Australia's most controversial criminal cases, the 1982 Perth Mint Swindle.