Can a document examiner work with photocopies of questioned documents?
• It is always recommended to examine original documents. Sometimes they no longer exist, or are not available. Sometimes time constraints prohibit adequate access to them, and a document examiner may only be granted access or provided a photograph, photocopy or fax. • A photocopy does lose line quality with each successive copy. However, a competent document examiner is still capable to render an opinion regarding a questioned document, and courts have allowed them when original documents no longer exist.
