Fingerprinting

History:

2,000 BC- 300AD: Fingerprints have been found on ancient Babylonian clay tablets dating to at least 2,000 BC, and by 300 AD, Chinese documents were often impressed with finger prints for business transaction seals to serve as signatures and protect against forgery.

Professor Marcello Malpighi

1686: Professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, Marcello Malpighi, observed the ridges, loops, and spirals present in fingerprints. Out of respect of his discoveries he had a layer of skin named after him called the Malpighi layer.

1823: anatomy professor John Evangelist Purkinje of the University of Breslau discussed his thesis on the nine different fingerprint patterns.

1858: Sir William James Herschel, a British Magistrate in India, observed that no two fingerprints were the same, thereby they could be used for identifying individuals. He discovered this when he began using impressed fingerprints on contracts. Herschel's private conviction of the practical applications of fingerprints contributed to their widespread use in law enforcement and jurisprudence.

1863: Professor Paul-Jean Coulier, of Val-de-Grâce in Paris, explains how otherwise invisible latent fingerprints could be identified on paper via iodine fuming and the importance of using a magnifying glass when identifying a suspects fingerprints.

1870-1880: Dr. Henry Faulds recognizes the importance of identification by fingerprinting and devises a classification system for fingerprints. In 1880, he publishes an article called "Nature," which discusses the idea of using fingerprints as a means of personal identification, and the use of printers ink as a method for obtaining such fingerprints. He is also credited for the first fingerprint identification of a greasy fingerprint that was left on an alcohol bottle.

1879: In Argentina, based on Galton's pattern classifications, the first organized system of recording the fingerprints of individuals on file was developed.

1882: Gilbert Thompson was the first person in the US to use fingerprints to protect against forgery.



1882: the Bertillon System, which measures the head length and width, length of the middle finger, left foot and the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger,

was created by Alphonse Bertillon. This system is also known as Anthropometry.

1891: Juan Vucetich of the Argentine Police created one of the first fingerprint databases.

1892: The first criminal case in which fingerprints were used to aid in an investigation. A suspects thumb print was identical to a bloody one that was found on a doorknob at the scene of a murder.

1897: On June 12^th, the Council of the Governor General of India approves a committee report that fingerprints should be used for classification of criminal records. Also, Haque and Bose, who worked in the world's first Fingerprint Bureau, the Calcutta Anthropometric Bureau, were two Indian fingerprint experts who were credited with the primary development of the Henry System of fingerprint classification.

1900: Mr. Edward Richard Henry lead to the replacement of the Bertillon system after the explanation his book, "The Classification and Use of Fingerprints," before United Kingdom Home Secretary Office.

1901: Mr. Edward Richard creates the Fingerprint Branch at New Scotland Yard using his system of fingerprint classification.

1902: Fingerprints were first systematically used in the U.S with the help of Dr. Henry P. DeForrest.


1903: NY state prison begins using a fingerprint identification system for criminals in the U.S.

1905: U.S. army began the using fingerprints, followed by the US Marines in 1906.

1918: Edmond Locard determined that identical 12 points between two fingerprints would be sufficient to prove a positive identification.

1924: Congress passes an act that established the Identification Division of the FBI.

1946: FBI had processed 100 million fingerprint cards in manually maintained files.

1971: FBI had manually processed 200 million fingerprint identification cards. The automated fingerprint identification system was then introduced and the files were computerized. It was recognized that many records were duplicates, and there were approximately 25-30 million different computerized files of fingerprints on record.

1974: UK began the organization of the first professional fingerprint organization, the National Society of Fingerprint Officers. The organization initially consisted of only UK experts, but quickly expanded to international scope and was renamed The Fingerprint
Society in 1977

Today: the Dept. of Homeland Security operates the largest AFIS depository, which contains over 100 million two-finger records. Fingerprints are recorded during arrests or when entering certain employment.

Types of Prints:

Direct Prints: These prints are visible to the naked eye and do not require to be developed. They can be deliberatively given, either for collection or when under arrest for a suspected criminal offense, or they could be when blood, ink, dirt, or grease on the finger come in contact with a smooth surface and in result they leave a friction ridge impression.

 Latent Prints: prints left behind from accidental contact with a surface, thereby they usually only contain parts of the whole fingerprint and are sometimes smudged, distorted, or imperfect in other ways. These prints are less accurate for identification due to their lack of the fingers ridge and groove patterns. These prints are not visible to the naked eye. These prints are formed from the water, salt, amino acids and oils found in sweat. Before these prints can be seen or photographed, they must be developed. They can be developed by dusting, fuming or through the use of chemical reagents.

 Plastic Prints: The prints create indentions that are left in a surface. They are usually found in melted candle wax, putties, thick grease, clay, and other soft, pliable surfaces. These types of prints can be viewed or photographed without the need to be developed.

Lifting/Developing Prints:

Lifting fingerprints from a crime scene is a crucial step in determining a possible suspect. Nonabsorbent, hard, and smooth surfaces usually use powder dusting to develop the prints while porous and soft surfaces usually require chemical treatment.

For example, for hard and nonabsorbent surfaces such as mirror, tile, glass, and painted wood, a forensic scientist would use a powder that contrasts with the surface that is being examined. White powder that is composed mostly of talc or aluminum is used on darker colored surfaces, mirrors, and other metallic surfaces. Contrarily, black powder used in examining fingerprints is generally made out of black carbon or charcoal and is applied to white or light-colored surfaces. These powders are usually applied lightly the use of a fiberglass or a camel's-hair brush. The power then sticks to sweat and/or body oils in the fingerprint to make it easily visualized. The prints are then normally lifted with tape, because the powder will stick to the tape while maintaining the shape of the print. Another powder that some people use is a magnetic-sensitive powder that is spread with a magna brush. Also, some investigators use fluorescent powders that can be seen under black-lights.



Iodine Fuming



Examples of soft and porous surfaces are cloth, paper, and cardboard- these surfaces require some form of chemical treatment to develop a print. Chemicals are commonly used to visualize latent prints via iodine fuming, silver nitrate, ninhydrin powder along with a suitable solvent (such as acetone or ethyl alcohol), and super glue fuming. Iodine fuming is the oldest and most common chemical treatment used to lift prints.

Shapes of Prints:

There are three basic shapes of fingerprints: arches, whorls, or loops. Arches look like a bump in the lines on your fingerprint. They can be gradual or steep. Whorls appear to be circles on your finger. They can be simple circles, or have a more sophisticated pattern. Loops look like waves in your fingerprint. Like whorls, they can be simple, or more intricate in nature.


Whorls contain two or more deltas and have some ridges that go in a circle at least one time
There are four different types: Plain whorl, central pocket whorl, double-loop whorl, and accidental whorl. About 25% of all prints are whorls.

Plain whorl: in these whorls, the ridges make a turn of one complete circuit and, therefore, are circular or spiral in shape. The plain whorl is the simplest form of whorl and the most common. There are at least two deltas and a ridge whose circuit may be spiral, oval or circular in shape.


Double-loop whorl: Whorl that contains two separate loops, two deltas, and one or more ridges that flow in a circle. In each of these formations, there are two entirely separate and distinct sets of shoulders and deltas.


Central pocket loop whorl: Whorl that contains two deltas and has two or more ridges that flow in a circle. They also have an obstruction at right angle of the flow. One or more of the simple curves of the plain whorl re-curves a second time.

Accidental whorl: Contains two different patterns(other than plain whorl) with two deltas or a pattern that contains one, or doesn't fit the descriptions of the other types.

Loops contain one delta, and on one side of that delta the ridges curve and go backwards; they are determined by which direction they face: radial/ulnar. Loops constitute approximately 70% of all prints.

Radial loop: Loops that flow toward the radius bone of the hand or, in other words, when the downward slope of the loop is from the direction of the little finger toward the thumb of the hand.

Ulnar loops: these are loops that flow toward the ulna bone of the hand or, in other words, when the downward slope of the loop is from the direction of the thumb toward the little finger of the hand.

Arches: The ridges go across the finger but do not make backward turns.
There are two types of arches: Plain arch, tented arch. Arches account for approximately 5% of all fingerprints.

            
Plain arch: Starts on one side of the finger, and then the ridge cascades upward slightly, then continues its journey along the finger to the other side.


Tented arch: Similar to the plain arch, but contains ridges, which adjoin each other in the center, converge and thrust upward, giving the impression of a pitched tent.

Classroom Activity:

On the first day of fingerprinting, everyone completed a Modus Operandi form:

As shown above, this form requires information such as a person's name, height, weight, shoe size, hair color, blood type and dominant hand. Along with this data, we had to take our fingerprints for each finger on both our right and left hands. We then had to identify each print type by using examples of each type and a magnifying glass.

The next day we used a whire powder to lift our prints off of a dark surface- we used a table in the classroom. When put tape over the powdered print to lift them, and then put the tape on a piece of black construction paper.

We did the same thing with a black powder to identify our prints on a glass surface. After we could see our prints, we used a piece of tape to lift them- just as we did with the white powder on the dark surface. The pieces of tape with the black-powdered finger prints we placed on a small piece of white paper:

After completing these activites, I discovered that it was extremely to lift prints, as I encountered many difficulties throughout the exercise.

Sources:
http://onin.com/fp/fphistory.html
http://members.fortunecity.com/julzjerg/finger.htm
http://www.bxscience.edu/publications/forensics/articles/fingerprinting/f-fing03.htm