Fingerprints

History of Fingerprints

1858 - Sir William Herschel, British Administrator in District in India, requires fingerprint and signatures on civil contracts

1880 - Dr. Henry Faulds, a Scottish doctor in Tokyo, Japan published an article in the scientific journal: “Nature”; in which he discussed fingerprints as a means of personal identification, and the use of printers ink as a method for obtaining such fingerprints.

1891 - Juan Vucetich, Argentine Police Official, Initiated the fingerprinting of criminals

1892 - Sir Francis Galton, a British Anthropologist publishes the first book on fingerprints. In his book, Galton identifies the individuality and uniqueness of fingerprints. 

1896 - International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Establish National Bureau of Criminal Identification, for the exchange of arrest information.

1901 - Sir Edward Henry, an Inspector General of Police in Bengal, India, develops the first system of classifying fingerprints. This system of classifying fingerprints was first adopted as the official system in England, and eventually spread throughout the world.

1903 - The William West – Will West Case at a Federal Prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, changed the way that people were classified and identified.

When a man named Will West entered the Leavenworth Prison System, in 1903, he was “booked” into the prison, as all other inmates. His face was photographed, and his Bertillion measurements were taken. Upon completion of this process, it was noted that another inmate, known as William West, who was already incarcerated at Leavenworth, had the same name, Bertillion measurements, and bore a striking resemblance to Will West.

The incident called the reliability of Bertillion measurements into question, and it was decided that a more positive means of identification was necessary. As the Bertillion System began to decline, the use of fingerprints in identifying and classifying individuals began to rise. After 1903, many prison systems began to use fingerprints as the primary means of identification.

1905 - U.S. Military adopts the use of fingerprints – soon thereafter, police agencies began to adopt the use of fingerprints

1908 - The first official fingerprint card was developed       

1924 - Formation of ID Division of FBI

1980 - First computer data base of fingerprints was developed, which came to be known as the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, (AFIS).  In the present day, there are nearly 70 million cards, or nearly 700 million individual fingerprints entered in AFIS.

Types of Prints

Patent

Patent prints are friction ridge impressions which are obvious to the human eye and which have been caused by the transfer of foreign material from a finger onto a surface. Because they are already visible and have no need of enhancement they are generally photographed rather than being lifted.

Latent

Latent prints may exhibit only a small portion of the surface of a finger and this may be smudged, distorted, overlapped by other prints from the same or from different individuals, or any or all of these in combination. For this reason, latent prints usually present a source of error in making comparisons.Latent

Plastic

A plastic print is a friction ridge impression left in a material that retains the shape of the ridge detail. Commonly encountered examples are melted candle wax, putty removed from the perimeter of window panes and thick grease deposits on car parts. Such prints are already visible and need no enhancement.


Fingerprint Patterns


Arch 


Plain Arch




Tented Arch

Arches are in about 5% of finger print patterns. Plain arch ridges enter on one side and flow out the other with a minor rise in the center. The ridges of radial arches slope towards the thumb, have one delta and no re-curving ridges. Ulnar arches are the same but the ridges slope away from the thumb. Tented arches have an angle, up thrust, or two basic characteristics of a loop.

Loop

Loops occur in about 60-70 % of fingerprint patterns. One or more of the ridges enters on either side of the impression, re-curves, touches or crosses the line running from the delta to the core and terminates on the side where the ridge or ridges entered. Each loop pattern has one delta and one core and has a ridge count. Radial loops run toward the thumb, radial loops are not very common and most of the time will be found on the index fingers. Ulnar loops run away from the thumb

 

Whorl



Plain Whorl



Double Loop Whorl

Whorls are seen in about 25-35 % of fingerprint patterns. In a whorl some of the ridges make a turn through at least one circuit. There are four types of whorls. Plain whorls consist of one or more ridges which tend to make a complete circuit with two deltas. Central pocket whorl ridges make one complete circuit, consist of at least one re-curving ridge or an obstruction at right angles to the line of flow; with two deltas no re-curving ridge within the pattern area is cut or touched. Double loop whorls consist of two separate and distinct loop formations with two separate and distinct shoulders for each core, two deltas and one or more ridges which make a complete circuit. Accidental whorls consist of two different types of patterns and follow none of the definitions.

Developing and Lifting Fingerprints

Fingerprints are made up of tiny droplets ranging in size from 1-20 micrometers, which consist mainly of sweat and approximately one millionth of a gram of chemical material in total.

Powder and Brush: The surface is brushed with a very fine powder that sticks to the print the powder is then lifted with tape. Some surfaces, however, absorb this powder and the fingerprints are not distinguishable.

Electrostatics: The article to be analyzed is attached to a negatively charged electrode connected to a high voltage. A fine powder is placed on the positive electrode that becomes charged and is attracted to the negatively charged specimen. Due to the high voltage, the particles travel quickly and stick firmly to the fingerprint. Particles hitting the electrode lose their positive charge and return to the positive electrode where they are recharged.

Laser luminescence: Involves the illumination of fingerprints due to fluorescing particles picked up during everyday life from paints, inks and oil. It can be used on painted walls, metals, plastic and rubber, cloth and wood.

Metal evaporation: The fingerprint is developed by first evaporating a thin layer of gold onto the specimen, followed by a layer of cadmium which fills in the print and provides a contrast.

Silver nitrate: Used for fingerprints on paper, silver nitrate is sprayed onto the fingerprint where it reacts with the chlorides, to give the insoluble silver salt, silver chloride. Not suitable for fabrics or rough surfaces such as wood.

Ninhydrin Test: Indantrione hydrate reacts with the amino acids in the fingerprint, giving a visible deposit. Not suitable for fabrics or rough surfaces.

Iodine Vapor: Can be used to develop fingerprints on fabrics and rough surfaces. Iodine vapor alone is useful only for prints up to 24 hours old, however a mixture of the vapor and steam allows this method to be effective for up to two months.

Bacteria: Certain bacteria can be used to develop prints on valuable oil paintings, without harming the painting in the process. The bacteria in a nutrient gel are pasted onto the surface of the painting, making the print visible as they multiply. The gel can then simply be wiped off, leaving the painting unaffected.

Autoradiography: Radioactive atoms are incorporated into the fingerprint by placing the piece of fabric into a container containing radioactive gases, such as iodine or sulfur dioxide, at a humidity of less than 50%.  The fabric is then put into contact with photographic film, and the radioactive atoms cause a picture to become clear.