The History

of
Fingerprints

Fingerprint Resources

FAQs

Timeline
 Updated 18 May 2022

Pinapagana ng Isalin

Why Fingerprint Identification?

Fingerprints provide a reliable means of personal identification.

That is the essential explanation for why fingerprints have

replaced other methods of identifying people who are reluctant to
admit previous arrests using different names.

Fingerprint (including palmprint, toe, and footprint impressions)

examination and identification is not perfect as a computerized
and human interface process (no human process is), but it is very
reliable when fingerprint activities follow national and
international quality assurance recommendations, guidelines, and
standards.

The science of fingerprint identification stands out among all other

forensic sciences for many reasons, including the following:
● Has served governments worldwide for over a century by providing
accurate identification of persons. No two fingerprints have ever been
found alike in many billions of human and automated computer
comparisons. Fingerprints are the foundation for criminal history
confirmation at police agencies worldwide.

● Established the first forensic professional organization,

the International Association for Identification (IAI), in 1915.
● Established the first professional certification program for forensic
scientists, the IAI's Certified Latent Print Examiner (CLPE) program in
1977. The fingerprint discipline has never claimed forensic
fingerprint experts (latent print examiners) are infallible. For over
four decades, the IAI's certification program has been issuing
certification to those meeting stringent criteria and revoking
certification for errors (quality assurance problems) such as erroneous
identifications.

● Continues to expand as the primary method for accurately

identifying persons in government record systems, with many
thousands of persons added daily to fingerprint repositories
worldwide.

● For more than a century, has remained the most commonly used
forensic evidence worldwide. In most jurisdictions, fingerprint
examination cases match or outnumber all other forensic examination
casework combined. Fingerprints harvested from crime "scenes lead
to more suspects and generate more evidence in court than all other
forensic laboratory techniques combined."

● Is relatively inexpensive for solving crime. Cost is an important

factor because governments must balance forensic and investigative
resources to best satisfy timeliness and thoroughness, without
sacrificing accuracy. For example, DNA is as common as
fingerprints at many crime scenes, but can cost 100 to 400 times more
than fingerprint analysis for each specimen, and often requires
additional months before analysis is complete. Thus, while both
fingerprints and DNA are typically harvested from serious crimes such
as sexual assault and murder, fingerprints are often the primary
evidence collected and rapidly processed - especially from less
serious crimes such as burglaries and vehicle break-ins.

● Fingerprints have a better chance of solving a crime than

DNA... not because fingerprints are better evidence than DNA,
but because of the sheer volume of fingerprint records stored in
government databases. More fingerprint records are added to US
Government (FBI and DHS) databases each year than were added to
the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database in the past
20 years.

Other visible human characteristics, such as facial features,

change considerably with age but fingerprints are relatively
persistent. Barring injuries or surgery causing deep scarring, or
diseases such as leprosy damaging the formative layers of friction
ridge skin, finger and palm print features have never been shown
to move about or change their unit relationship throughout the life
of a person (and injuries, scarring, and diseases tend to exhibit
telltale indicators of unnatural change).

In earlier civilizations, branding or maiming (cutting off hands or

noses) were used to mark persons as criminals. The thief was
deprived of the hand which committed the thievery. Ancient
Romans employed the tattoo needle to identify and prevent
desertion of mercenary soldiers.

Before the mid-1800s, law enforcement officers with extraordinary

visual memories, so-called "camera eyes," identified previously
arrested offenders by sight alone. Photography lessened the
burden on memory, but it was not the answer to the criminal
identification problem because personal appearances change.

Around 1880, French anthropologist Alphonse Bertillon devised a

system to measure and record the dimensions of certain bony
parts of the body. These measurements were reduced to a
formula that, in theory, would only apply to one person and would
not alter over the course of his or her adult life. Bertillon also
pioneered the concept of arrest photos (mugshots) taken
simultaneously with bodily measurements and fingerprints.

The Bertillon System was generally accepted in many countries

during the next three decades, however the anthropometric
measurement system never recovered from the events of 1903,
when a man named Will West was sentenced to the US
Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. It was discovered there was
already a prisoner at the penitentiary, whose Bertillon
measurements were nearly the same, and his name was William
West.
Upon investigation, it was determined there were two men who
looked very similar. Their names were William and Will West.
Their Bertillon measurements were similar enough to identify
them as the same person. However, fingerprint comparisons
quickly and correctly determined the biometrics (fingerprints and
face) were from two different people. (According to prison records
made public years later, the West men were apparently identical
twins and each had a record of correspondence with the same
immediate family relatives.)

Prehistoric

Ancient artifacts with carvings similar to friction ridge skin have

been discovered in many places throughout the world. Prehistoric
picture writing of a hand with ridge patterns was discovered on a
cliff in Nova Scotia. In ancient Babylon, fingerprints were used on
clay tablets for business transactions.

BC 200s - China

Chinese records from the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) include

details about using handprints as evidence during burglary
investigations.

Clay seals bearing friction ridge impressions were used during

both the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 BC - 220 AD).

AD 1400s - Persia

The 14th century Persian book "Jaamehol-Tawarikh" (Universal

History), attributed to Khajeh Rashiduddin Fazlollah Hamadani
(1247-1318), includes comments about the practice of identifying
persons from their fingerprints.

1600s
1684 - Grew

In the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of

London" paper in 1684, Dr. Nehemiah Grew was the first
European to publish friction ridge skin observations.

1685 - Bidloo

Dutch anatomist Govard Bidloo's 1685 book, "Anatomy of the

Human Body" included descriptions of friction ridge skin (papillary
ridge) details.
Table 4 from "Anatomy of the Human Body."

1686 - Malpighi

In 1686 Marcello Malpighi, an anatomy professor at the University

of Bologna noted that fingerprint ridges, spirals and loops in his
treatise. A layer of skin was named after him, the "Malpighi" layer,
which is approximately 1.8 mm thick.

No mention of friction ridge skin uniqueness or permanence was

made by Grew, Bidloo or Malpighi.
1700s

1788 - Mayer - First Mention of Uniqueness

German anatomist Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer authored

the book "Anatomical Copper-plates with Appropriate
Explanations" containing drawings of friction ridge skin patterns
(the original title in German was "Anatomische Kupfertafeln nebst
dazu gehörigen Erklärungen"). Mayer wrote, "Although the
arrangement of skin ridges is never duplicated in two persons,
nevertheless the similarities are closer among some individuals.
In others the differences are marked, yet in spite of their
peculiarities of arrangement all have a certain likeness"
(Cummins and Midlo, 1943, pages 12-13). Mayer was the first to
declare friction ridge skin is unique.

1800s

1823 - Purkinje
In 1823, Jan Evangelista Purkinje, anatomy professor at the
University of Breslau in Wrocław, Poland, published his thesis
discussing nine fingerprint patterns. Purkinje made no mention of
the value of fingerprints for personal identification. Purkinje is
referred to in most English language publications as John
Evangelist Purkinje.

1856 - Welcker

German anthropologist Hermann Welcker of the University of

Halle, studied friction ridge skin permanence by printing his own
right hand in 1856 and again in 1897, then published a study in
1898.
1858 - Herschel

The English began using fingerprints in July 1858 when Sir

William James Herschel, Chief Magistrate of the Hooghly District
in Jungipoor, India, first used fingerprints on native contracts. On
a whim, and without thought toward personal identification,
Herschel had Rajyadhar Konai, a local businessman, impress his
hand print on a contract. Jungipoor is now know as Jangipur in
the state of West Bengal.
The purpose of the hand print was to "... to frighten [him] out of all
thought of repudiating his signature." The native was suitably
impressed and Herschel made a habit of requiring palm prints--
and later, simply the prints of the right Index and middle fingers--
on every contract made with the locals. Personal contact with the
document, they believed, made the contract more binding than if
they simply signed it. Thus, the first wide-scale, modern-day use
of fingerprints was predicated not upon scientific evidence, but
upon superstitious beliefs.

However, as Herschel's fingerprint collection grew, he began to

realize the inked impressions could prove or disprove identity.
While his experience with fingerprinting was admittedly limited, Sir
William Herschel's private conviction that all fingerprints were
unique to the individual, as well as permanent throughout that
individual's life, inspired him to expand their use.

1863 - Coulier
Professor Paul-Jean Coulier, of Val-de-Grâce in Paris, published
his observations that (latent) fingerprints can be developed on
paper by iodine fuming, explaining how to preserve (fix) such
developed impressions and mentioning the potential for
identifying suspects' fingerprints by use of a magnifying glass.

1877 - Taylor
American microscopist Thomas Taylor proposed that finger and
palm prints left on any object might be used to solve crimes. The
July 1877 issue of The American Journal of Microscopy and
Popular Science included the following description of a lecture by
Taylor:

Hand Marks Under the Microscope. - In a recent

lecture, Mr. Thomas Taylor, microscopist to the
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.,
exhibited on a screen & view of the markings on
the palms of the hands and the tips of the
fingers, and called attention to the possibility
of identifying criminals, especially murderers,
by comparing the marks of the hands left upon
any object with impressions in wax taken from
the hands of suspected persons. In the case of
murderers, the marks of bloody hands would
present a very favorable opportunity. This is a
new system of palmistry.

1870s-1880 - Faulds
During the 1870s, Dr. Henry Faulds, the British Surgeon-
Superintendent of Tsukiji Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, took up the
study of "skin-furrows" after noticing finger marks on specimens of
"prehistoric" pottery. A learned and industrious man, Faulds not
only recognized the importance of fingerprints as a means of
identification, but devised a method of classification as well. Dr.
Faulds' clinic in Tokyo eventually became St. Luke's International
Hospital.

In 1880, Faulds forwarded an explanation of his classification

system and a sample of the forms he had designed for recording
inked impressions, to Sir Charles Darwin. Darwin, in advanced
age and ill health, informed Dr. Faulds he could be of no
assistance to him, but promised to pass the materials on to his
cousin, Francis Galton.

Also in 1880, Faulds published an article in the Scientific Journal,

"Nature" (nature). He discussed fingerprints as a means of
personal identification, and the use of printer's ink as a method for
recording such fingerprints. He is also credited with the first latent
print identification - a greasy fingerprint deposited on an alcohol
bottle.
1882 - Thompson

In 1882, Gilbert Thompson of the U.S. Geological Survey in New

Mexico, used his own thumb print on a document to help prevent
forgery. This is the first known use of fingerprints in the United
States. Click the image below to see a larger image of an 1882
receipt issued by Gilbert Thompson to "Lying Bob" in the amount
of 75 dollars.

1882 - Bertillon
Alphonse Bertillon, a clerk in the Prefecture of Police of at Paris,
France, devised a system of classification, known as
anthropometry or the Bertillon System, using measurements of
parts of the body. Bertillon's system included measurements such
as head length, head width, length of the middle finger, length of
the left foot; and length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of
the middle finger. Bertillon also established a system of
photographing faces - which became known as mugshots.
In 1888 Bertillon was made Chief of the newly created
Department of Judicial Identity where he used anthropometry as
the primary means of identification. He later introduced
Fingerprints, but relegated them to a secondary role in the
category of special marks.

1883 - Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens)

A murderer was identified using fingerprint identification in Mark

Twain's book "Life on the Mississippi." A dramatic court trial,
including fingerprint identification, was depicted in a later book,
"The Tragedy of Pudd'n Head Wilson." This book was adapted
into a movie in 1916, and a made-for-TV movie in 1984.

1888 - Galton
Sir Francis Galton, British anthropologist and a cousin of Charles
Darwin, began his observations of fingerprints as a means of
identification in the 1880's.

1891 - Vucetich

Juan Vucetich, an Argentine Police Official, began the first

fingerprint files based on Galton pattern types. At first, Vucetich
included the Bertillon System with the files.
 Right Thumb Impression and Signature of Juan Vucetich

1892 - Alvarez

At Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1892, Inspector Eduardo Alvarez

made the first criminal fingerprint identification. He was able to
identify Francisca Rojas, a woman who murdered her two sons
and cut her own throat in an attempt to place blame on another.
Her bloody print was left on a door post, proving her presence at
the scene of the murder. Alvarez was trained by Juan Vucetich.

Francisca Rojas' Inked Fingerprints

1892 - Galton
Sir Francis Galton published his book, "Finger Prints" in 1892,
establishing the individuality and permanence of fingerprints. The
book included the first published classification system for
fingerprints. In 1893, Galton published the book "Decipherment of
Blurred Finger Prints," and in 1895 published the book
"Fingerprint Directories."

Galton's interest in fingerprints included assistance for his

research into Eugenics. Eugenics focused on manipulating
heredity or breeding to produce better people and on eliminating
those considered biologically inferior.

While Galton soon discovered fingerprints were of no help to his

genetic research (fingerprints offered no firm clues to an
individual's intelligence or genetic history), he was able to
scientifically prove what Herschel and Faulds already believed:
(1) Except for injury or disease, fingerprint ridge
arrangements do not change over the course of an
individual's lifetime; and
(2) No two fingerprints are exactly the same.

According to Galton's calculations, the odds of two individual

fingerprints being the same were 1 in 64 billion. He named the
characteristics by which fingerprints can be identified. Most
Galton Detail terms describing friction ridge skin and impression
features have been abandoned in modern forensic science
terminology.

1896 - Hodgson

On 8 May 1896, Dr. Ralph Hodgson gave a lecture on the value

of fingerprint identification at the Sydney School of Arts in Sydney,
Australia. The lecture included discussion of the great value of
fingerprints and also the limited adoption of fingerprint records for
identification by worldwide agencies already using Bertillon
measurements. A diagram used in the lecture is shown above.

1897 - The first National Bureau of Identification in the US

On October 20, 1897, the National Association of Chiefs of Police
of the United States and Canada opened the National Bureau of
Identification (NBI) in City Hall at Chicago, Illinois. NBI files
included mugshots, fingerprints and related Bertillon records from
criminals. In 1902, the parent organization's name was changed
to the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the NBI
moved from Chicago to Washington, DC.

1897 - India's Fingerprint Pioneers

Qazi Azizul Haque

Hem Chandra Bose

On 12 June 1897, the Council of the Governor General of India

approved a committee report that fingerprints should be used for
the classification of criminal records. The Anthropometric Bureau
in Kolkata (now Calcutta) became the world's first Fingerprint
Bureau later that year. Qazi Azizul Haque and Hem Chandra
Bose worked in the Calcutta Anthropometric Bureau (before it
became the Fingerprint Bureau).

Haque and Bose are the two Indian fingerprint experts credited
with primary development of the Henry System of fingerprint
classification (named for their supervisor, Edward Richard Henry).
The Henry classification system is still used in many countries
(primarily as the manual filing system for accessing paper
fingerprint card archive files which have not been scanned and
computerized).

1900s

1900 - E.R. Henry

The United Kingdom Home Secretary Office conducted an inquiry
into "Identification of Criminals by Measurement and
Fingerprints." Mr. Edward Richard Henry (later Sir ER Henry)
appeared before the inquiry committee to explain the system
published in his recent book "The Classification and Use of
Fingerprints." The committee recommended adoption of
fingerprinting as a replacement for the relatively inaccurate
Bertillon system of anthropometric measurement, which only
partially relied on fingerprints for identification.

1901 - New Scotland Yard

The Fingerprint Branch at New Scotland Yard (Metropolitan

Police) was created in July 1901. It used the Henry System of
Fingerprint Classification.

1902 - de Forest Starts America's First Civil Fingerprint Process

Dr. Henry Pelouze de Forest was appointed Chief Medical
Examiner of the New York City Civil Service commission in June
of 1902 and was tasked with developing a civil applicant
identification process to reduce fraud involving imposters testing
for applicants. Dr. de Forest travelled to Europe to study the
Bertillon system, but while in England enroute to France, he read
a September 15, 1902 Daily Telegraph newspaper with the
headline "Identification by Finger Prints." Scotland Yard's success
in solving cases with fingerprints convinced de Forest to abandon
the Bertillon system, cancelling his plans to study that system in
France.

Although rebuffed by Scotland Yard at first, with US Embassy

assistance Dr. de Forest was accepted as a fingerprint student
under Sergeant (later Chief Inspector) Charles S. Collins at
Scotland Yard. Dr. de Forest returned to America with a
fingerprint magnifier, several record forms, and a copy of Sir
Edward R. Henry’s publication "The Classification and Uses of
Finger Prints."

On 19 December 1902, James Johnson was the first person in

America fingerprinted for civil applicant purposes. Johnson was
fingerprinted as part of New York City's Civil Service application
process.

1903
The New York State Prison System and Leavenworth Penitentiary
in Kansas began using fingerprinting.

The fingerprints of Will and William West were compared at

Leavenworth Penitentiary after both men were found to have very
similar Anthropometric (Bertillon System) measurements.
1904The use of fingerprints began at the St. Louis Police Departm
ent. They were assisted by a Sergeant from Scotland Yard who
had been on duty at the St. Louis World's Fair Exposition guardin
the British Display. After the St. Louis World's Fair, more and
more US police agencies joined in submitting fingerprints to
the International Association of Chiefs of Police Bureau of Crim
inal Identifica

05U.S. Army begins using fingerpr

ts.U.S. Department of Justice forms the Bureau of Crim

inal Identification in Washington, DC to provide a central
ized reference collection of fingerprint c

1907
U.S. Navy begins using fingerprints.

In 1907, the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Bureau of

Criminal Identification moves from Washington, DC to
Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas where it is staffed at
least partially by inmates. Suspicious of inmates involvement with
the identification process, the International Association of Chiefs
of Police BCI (still located in Washington, DC), refused to share
with the DOJ BCI in Kansas. The lack of communication between
local, state, and federal law enforcement presented great
challenges at all levels in locating and identifying wanted
criminals, especially those moving from state to state. The
disconnect was not remedied until 1924.

1908

U.S. Marine Corps begins using fingerprints.

1910 - Brayley
In 1910, Frederick Brayley published the first American textbook
on fingerprints, "Arrangement of Finger Prints, Identification, and
Their Uses."

1914 - Edmond Locard

Dr. Edmond Locard published his fingerprint identification

conclusions and the criteria that should be used to ensure
reliability based on a statistical analysis study in 1914. His
research revealed the following three-part rule, which can be
summarized as follows:

1. If more than 12 concurring points are present and the

fingerprint is sharp, the certainty of identity is beyond debate.

2. If 8 to 12 concurring points are involved, then the case is

borderline and the certainty of identity will depend on:

2.a. the sharpness of the fingerprints;

2.b. the rarity of its type;

2.c. the presence of the center of the figure [core] and the triangle
[delta] in the exploitable part of the print;

2.d. the presence of pores [poroscopy was previously spelled

porescopy in some fingerprint publications];

2.e. the perfect and obvious identity regarding the width of the
papillary ridges and valleys, the direction of the lines, and the
angular value of the bifurcations [ridgeology / edgeoscopy]. Dr.
Locard also realized the value and the importance of, and
rendered qualified conclusions to the identification process.

3.If a limited number of characteristic points are present, the

fingerprints cannot provide certainty for an identification, but only
a presumption proportional to the number of points available and
their clarity.
(Modified from: Christophe Champod, Institut de Police
Scientifique et de Criminiologie BCH/Universite de Lausanne, "
Edmond Locard - Numerical Standards & "Probable"
Identifications, Journal of Forensic Identification, 45 (2) 1995,
pp136-155)

1914

The idea of INTERPOL was born in Monaco at the first

International Criminal Police Congress (14 to 18 April 1914).
Officials from 24 countries discussed cooperation on solving
crimes. In addition to laying the foundation for INTERPOL, the
meeting proposed laying the foundations for establishing:
(1) An international identification file;
(2) A classification system for such files; and
(3) A list of categories for ordinary-law "international" or
"cosmopolitan" offenders.
Electronic Encoding of Fingerprints - Denmark Police

In 1914, Hakon Jrgensen with the Copenhagen, Denmark Police

lectured about the distant (remote) identification of fingerprints at
the International Police Conference in Monaco. The process
involved encoding fingerprint features for transmission to distant
offices facilitating identification through electronic
communications. In 1916, the book "Distant Identification" is
published and used in Danish police training. The NIST (NBS)
1969 technical note reviewing Jrgensen's system is online here.
The 1922 English version of a book describing Jrgensen's
"Distant Identification" system is online here.

1915
Inspector Harry H. Caldwell of the Oakland, California Police
Department's Bureau of Identification wrote numerous letters to
"Criminal Identification Operators" in August 1915, requesting
them to meet in Oakland for the purpose of forming an
organization to further the aims of the identification profession. In
October 1915, a group of twenty-two identification personnel met
and initiated the "International Association for Criminal
Identification" In 1918, the organization was renamed to
the International Association for Identification (IAI) due to the
volume of non-criminal identification work performed by members.
Sir Francis Galton's right index finger appears in the IAI logo. The
IAI's official publication is the Journal of Forensic Identification.
The IAI's 100th annual educational conference was held in
Sacramento, California, near the IAI's original roots.

1923 - US Department of Justice Fingerprint Repository Returns

to Washington, DC

Following a meeting between the US Attorney General and

representatives of the International Association of Chiefs of Police
(IACP), the US Department of Justice Bureau of Criminal
Identification fingerprint collection was transferred from
Leavenworth Penitentiary back to Washington, DC, in October
1923.

1924 - FBI's Identification Division is formed

In 1924, an act of congress established the Identification Division

of the FBI. The International Association of Chiefs of Police
(IACP) Bureau of Criminal Identification fingerprint repository and
the US Justice Department's Bureau of Criminal Identification
(BCI) fingerprint repository were combined with fingerprint cards
from Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary to form the nucleus of the
FBI Identification Division fingerprint files with a starting total of
810,188 fingerprint cards. In 1924, the FBI's Identification Division
had less than 1,000 routine contributors and received an average
of 300 fingerprint cards daily (FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,
February 1933).

Fingerprint Clerks in the Technical Section of the FBI's

Identification Division in 1930. The job title Fingerprint Clerk was
later changed to Fingerprint Examiner.

1933 - Between 1924 and early 1933, the number of law

enforcement agencies routinely submitting fingerprint records to
the FBI had increased more than five-fold to 5,282 routine
contributors... and the average number of daily fingerprint cards
received increased more than six-fold to 2,000 cards daily (FBI
Law Enforcement Bulletin, February 1933).

1938 - The FBI's Identification Division files included more than

9,500,000 fingerprint cards as of the end of 1938 (FBI Law
Enforcement Bulletin, December 1938, p. 18).

1940s

By the end of World War II, most American fingerprint experts

agreed there was no scientific basis for a minimum number of
corresponding minutiae to determine an "identification" and the
twelve-point rule was dropped from the FBI publication, "The
Science of Fingerprints."
 FBI Identification Division experts
in the Washington DC Armory.

By 1946, the FBI had processed over 100 million fingerprint cards
in files maintained manually. In 1947, the FBI's fingerprint
repository was moved from the Washington DC Armory Building
to a new building at 2nd and D Streets Southwest in Washington,
DC.

With the introduction of automated fingerprint identification system

(AFIS) technology, the files were later split into computerized
criminal files and manually maintained civil files. Many of the
manual files were duplicates though, the records actually
represented somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 million
criminals, and an unknown number (tens of millions) of individuals
represented in the civil files.

1960s

In 1963, the FBI's Latent Print Unit completed 9,668 latent print
cases from local, state and federal American law enforcement,
including 76,309 specimens (evidence items) for latent print
examination. The Latent Print Unit identified suspects in 795 of
the cases.

As of 1 May 1964, the FBI's Identification Division had more than

170 million fingerprint records (170,681,473 records), including
almost 45 million criminal fingerprint records (44,926,750 criminal
fingerprint records).

1970s

1971
On 15 December 1971, the FBI began accepting only arrest
fingerprint cards with light red (pinkish) impression boundary lines
conforming to FD-249 specifications. Before that date, many US
law enforcement agencies used their own 8-inch x 8-inch
fingerprint cards with slight variations of the height and width of
blocks wherein fingerprints would be recorded. The change was
needed for two reasons:
● To standardize the location of fingerprints for automated
fingerprint scanning (flying spot laser scanning in the early years);
and
● To eliminate artificial bifurcations (artifacts) created when inked
fingerprints extended over black ink finger block boundary lines.
The light red ink eliminated such artifact problems.
Click on the above image to see the front of the new "pinkish" FBI
criminal record fingerprint cards used since 1971.

The thousands of Tenprint Examiners working in the FBI's

Identification Division in the 1970s had to pull groups of
fingerprints cards from file cabinets (sometimes only a few cards
and sometimes hundreds) to manually compare the one-by-one
against a newly received arrest, applicant, or other type of inked
fingerprint card.

Here are front and back images of a placeholder card which was
used by one of those Tenprint Examiners in 1972. Frequently,
examiners would find that a group of fingerprint cards they
needed to search would have another examiner's placeholder
card inserted among them. That large plastic placeholder card
was the signal to let them know they would have to wait for the
missing cards to be returned to the file drawer before the new
search (one-by-one comparisons) could begin.
The above placeholder card is stamped with the word "DEAD" to
indicate the Fingerprint Examiner worked for the Dead Desk unit
of the Technical Section (TECH DEAD DESK). The Dead Desk
examiners were assigned the difficult task of daily searching
unknown deceased fingerprints from unidentified persons (from
bodies discovered without ID documents, and fingerprints from
unidentified deceased US soldiers in the Viet Nam war).

The imperfect (often very deteriorating) condition of the skin on

the deceased person's fingers meant that DEAD DESK fingerprint
records were especially difficult to analyze/classify, and compare.
Additionally, DEAD DESK fingerprints had to be compared
against both criminal and civil files, with the civil files having much
less specific classification segments, often requiring tens times as
many comparisons in the civil files versus the same fingerprint
classification range in the criminal files.

1973
The International Association for Identification Standardization
Committee authored a resolution stating that each identification is
unique and no valid basis exists to require a minimum number of
matching points in two friction ridge impressions to establish a
positive identification. The resolution was approved by members
at the 1973 annual IAI conference.

1974 - The Fingerprint Society

In 1974, four employees of the Hertfordshire (United Kingdom)

Fingerprint Bureau contacted fingerprint experts throughout the
UK and began organization of that country's 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. The initials FFS behind
a fingerprint expert's name indicates they were recognized as a
Fellow of the Fingerprint Society. The Society hosted annual
educational conferences with speakers and delegates attending
from many countries. In 2017, The Fingerprint Society merged
with The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS) and has
since been known as the CSFS Fingerprint Division.
1977

On 1 August 1977 at New Orleans, Louisiana, members attending

the 62nd Annual Conference of the International Association for
Identification (IAI) voted to establish the world's first certification
program for fingerprint experts. Since then, the IAI's Latent Print
Certification Board has tested thousands of applicants, and
periodically proficiency retests all IAI Certified Latent Print
Examiners (CLPEs).

Contrary to assertions by some forensic science critics that

fingerprint experts claim they never make erroneous
identifications, the Latent Print Certification program, active since
1977, has specifically recognized such mistakes sometimes occur
and must be addressed.

During the past four decades, CLPE status has become a

prerequisite for journeyman fingerprint expert positions in some
US state and federal government forensic laboratories. IAI CLPE
status is considered by many identification professionals to be a
measurement of excellence. CLPE's have sometimes made
erroneous latent print identifications (including an erroneous
identification made by the chair of the IAI's Latent Print
Certification Board).

1995
At the International Symposium on Latent Fingerprint Detection
and Identification, conducted by the Israeli National Police
Agency, at Neurim, Israel, June, 1995, the Neurim Declaration
was issued. The declaration, (authored by Pierre Margot and Ed
German), states "No scientific basis exists for requiring that a pre-
determined minimum number of friction ridge features must be
present in two impressions in order to establish a positive
identification." The declaration was unanimously approved by all
present, and later, signed by 28 persons from the following 11
countries: Australia, Canada, France, Holland, Hungary, Israel,
New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United
States.

In 1995, the FBI established the Technical Working Group for

Friction Ridge Analysis, Study, and Technology (TWGFAST) to
help establish national standards, guidelines, and best practices
for friction ridge examination in forensic science laboratories and
law enforcement latent print offices. TWGFAST was modeled
after the FBI-sponsored Technical Working Group on DNA
Analysis Methods (TWGDAM) established in 1989.

In 1999, TWGFAST became SWGFAST when all the FBI-

sponsored Technical Working Groups (TWGs) were renamed to
Scientific Working Groups (SWGs). The renaming was partially to
differentiate the long-term (many years) aspect of forensic
working groups establishing standards, guidelines, and best
practices from the short-term (one-day or one-week) TWGs
sponsored by the US National Institute of Justice to work on
documents/guides... and partially to emphasize the focus on
embracing science for improvement in the various forensic
 disciplines.

2000s

2004
Because of quality assurance lessons learned after high-profile
case errors such as the Brandon Mayfield mistaken identification,
check boxes for latent print examination since 2004 have included
the following:

 Training to competency of all latent print examiners in

compliance with national or international guidelines.

 Annual Proficiency Testing of every latent print examiner in

compliance with national or international guidelines.

 International Association for Identification Certified Latent Print

Examiner status. Just as most accountants are not Certified
Public Accountants, less than half of all latent print examiners in
America ever achieve IAI Certification. It does not mean they are
not trained to minimum competency but does mean they have
not passed what many US state and federal labs consider the
minimum status for employment as senior latent print examiners.

 Every latent print "identification" (strongest association) must

undergo quality assurance review by a second trained to
competency latent print examiner.
 Every case including one of the following "red flags" must
undergo blind-review by a second latent print examiner
(preferably by a CLPE). During the past four decades, one or
both of these red flags have almost always been present when a
mistaken "identification" happens:

o Only one latent print strongest association ("identification") to a

person, especially if the association resulted from automated
search results (AFIS or ABIS).

o Any complex (poor quality) latent or record print involved in a

strongest association ("identification") opinion. The following
sufficiency graph (SWGFAST version 2013) does not suggest or
endorse the use of minutiae counts as the sole criteria for a
decision threshold, but the yellow (B) area is typically complex
and the red (C) area is typically insufficient for "identification":
No forensic service provider (FSP) can do everything in every
case. They must all balance accuracy, timeliness, and
thoroughness against available resources... and thoroughness is
typically what gets sacrificed. The variety of latent print casework
 quality assurance policies used by some FSPs, include the
following:

 Requiring a second expert blind-review of any case involving

only one latent print suitable for comparison, whether or not an
elimination or strongest association (identification) occurred. This
practice helps eliminate confirmation bias when other experts
might expect only "identifications" to be presented to them for
review.

 Requiring a second latent print examiner review (typically not a

blind-review) of every latent print comparison in every case,
including all eliminations (non-idents).

2012

INTERPOL's Automated Fingerprint Identification

System repository exceeds 150,000 sets of fingerprints for
important international criminal records from 190 member
countries. Over 170 countries have 24 x 7 interface ability with
INTERPOL expert fingerprint services.
2014
In 2014, SWGFAST was replaced by the Friction Ridge
Subcommittee of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees
for Forensic Science (OSAC). Most, but not all, SWGs were
disbanded when OSAC was formed.

2015
The International Association for Identification celebrated it's
100th Anniversary in California, the same state where the IAI
began in 1915.

2021 - Largest Annual International Identification Conference

105th IAI Annual Educational Conference
Sunday, August 1st, 2021 - Saturday, August 7th, 2021
The IAI Annual Educational Conference is the largest organized
event in the world and provides a week of high-quality, cutting-
edge education and hands-on training in forensic physical
evidence examination and crime scene processing.

2021- Fingerprint Records versus DNA Records

On 21 April 2021, the FBI's Combined DNA Index System
(CODIS) met a major milestone of 20 million total DNA records
received in its combined national DNA repository.

2022

America's Largest Databases

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Biometric
Identity Management (OBIM was formerly US-VISIT), contains
over 120 million persons' fingerprints, many in the form of two-
finger records. The US Visit Program has been migrating from two
flat (not rolled) fingerprints to ten flat fingerprints since 2007. "Fast
capture" technology currently enables the recording of ten
simultaneous fingerprint impressions in as little as 15 seconds per
person.

As of March 2022, the FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI)

conducts processes an average of more than 145,000 tenprint
record daily searches against more than 144 million computerized
fingerprint records (both criminal and civil applicant records). The
145,000 daily fingerprint searches support 18,000 law
enforcement agencies and 16,000 non-law enforcement
agencies. At 70% more accurate that the FBI's previous version
of automated latent print technology, NGI is the FBI's most
valuable service to American law enforcement, providing accurate
and rapid fingerprint identification support.

FBI civil fingerprint files in NGI (primarily including federal

employees and federal employment applicants) have become
searchable by all US law enforcement agencies in recent years.
Many enlisted military service member fingerprint cards received
after 1990, and most (officer, enlisted and civilian) military-related
fingerprint cards received after 19 May 2000, have been
computerized and are searchable.

As of March 2022, NGI's civil fingerprint repository has

64,029,261 searchable fingerprint records and over 80,363,088
criminal fingerprint repository records (https://www.fbi.gov/file-
repository/ngi-monthly-fact-sheet/).

The FBI continues to expand their automated identification

activities to include other biometrics such as palm, face, and iris.
Direct face search capabilities in NGI are a reality for some US
law enforcement agencies, and all others can submit faces to FBI
CJIS' Face Services Unit by opening collaborative investigations
through their supporting FBI offices.

Every state in the America, as well as many large cities, have

their own AFIS databases, each with a subset of fingerprint
records which are not stored in any other database. Palmprints
are also stored and searched in many of these databases. Law
enforcement fingerprint interface standards are important to
enable sharing records and reciprocal searches to identify
criminals.

International Sharing

Many European nations currently leverage multiple fingerprint

information sharing operations, including the following: Schengen
Information System (SIS); Visa Information System (VIS);
European Dactyloscopy (EURODAC); and Europol. Additionally, a
biometric-based Entry Exit System (EES) is in planning stages.
Many other countries exchanges searches/fingerprint records in a
similar manner as Europe, with automated and non-automated
interfaces existing in accordance with national/international
privacy laws and the urgency/importance of such searches.
World's Largest Database

The Unique Identification Authority of India is the world's largest

fingerprint (and largest multi-modal biometric) system using
fingerprint, face and iris biometric records. India's Unique
Identification project is also known as Aadhaar, a word meaning
"the foundation" in several Indian languages. Aadhaar is a
voluntary program with the goal of providing most of India's
estimated 1.25 billion residents with reliable national identification
documents.

With a biometric database many times larger than any other in the
world, Aadhaar's ability to leverage automated fingerprint and iris
modalities (and potentially automated face recognition) enables
rapid and reliable automated searching and identification
impossible to accomplish with fingerprint technology alone,
especially when searching children and elderly residents'
fingerprints (children are fingerprinted and photographed as
young as age 5). As of March 2021, the Authority has issued
more than 1.29 billion (more than 129 crore) Aadhaar numbers.

___________________________________

Like most attempts to document history, this page strives to

balance what happened first with what matters. The result
does not mean this fingerprint history page (or any other
historical account) is complete or entirely accurate. This
page is maintained by an American fingerprint expert, biased
by English language scientific journals and historical
publications. The author of this page tries to remember that
everything he has seen or experienced is his perspective...
not necessarily fact or truth.

Other countries' experts (especially from non-English

language countries) have completed important fingerprint-
related scientific accomplishments before and after the listed
events. Please email recommended changes and citations
for those modifications to ed "at" onin.com.

Over a period of decades, scientific understanding in every

discipline increases. Newly realized "truths" then enable
replacement of erroneous portions of standards, guidelines, and
best practices consecrated by the previous generation of well-
intentioned experts.

Science is a set of provisional explanations, also known as

hypotheses, which are updated as new information becomes
available.

For example, the 12-point rule for identifying fingerprints utilized in

America during the early 1900s was abandoned by the FBI in the
1940s when it was realized 12 poor-quality (low clarity) points
were less rare (had lower specificity) for "identification" support
than fewer very clear points having relatively rare shapes and unit
relationships.

Nowadays, friction ridge science is improving by attempting to

express subjective opinions with greater accuracy (not as
positive identifications) until new research supports the next
advancement... perhaps that advancement will be a well-validated
algorithm stating likelihood ratios.

___________________________________

As of 2016, the term positive identification (meaning absolute

certainty) has been replaced in reports and testimony by most
agencies/experts with more accurate terminology, including
variations of wording such as the following:

Examination and comparison of similarities and

differences between the impressions resulted in
the opinion there is a much greater support for
the impressions originating from the same source
than there is for them originating from
different sources.

Current US Department of Justice Uniform Language for

Testimony and Reports for the Latent Print Discipline are online
here.

A related 2014 paper titled "Individualization is dead, long live

individualization! Reforms of reporting practices for fingerprint
analysis in the United States" by Simon Cole, Professor at
University of California, Irvine is linked here.

Professor Cole's 2020 paper recommending use of the word

"findings" in forensic reports instead of conclusions, decisions,
and other terms is linked here.

___________________________________

References:
FBI, The CJIS Link; vol. 4, no. 23, page 10, by US Department of
Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice
Information Services Division, Fall 2000.

Jenkins, J. J. (1902). National Bureau of Criminal Identification

(No. 429). U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the
Judiciary.

Moore, Greg; Some of the above wording is credited to Greg

Moore, from his previous fingerprint history page at
www.brawleyonline.com/consult/history.htm (no longer online).

Von Minden, David L.; provided input for this page involving typos
his students kept cutting and pasting into their homework.

Interpol, "General Position on Fingerprint Evidence," by the

Interpol European Expert Group on Fingerprint Identification
(accessed March 2010 at www.interpol.int).

Coulier, P.-J. Les vapeurs d'iode employees comme moyen de

reconnaitre l'alteration des ecritures. In L'Annee scientiJique et
industrielle; Figuier, L. Ed.; Hachette, 1863; 8, pp. 157-160
at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7326j (as of March 2010).

Henry Pelouze de Forest details are from an article by Harry J.

Myer, II; Finger Print and Identification Magazine; 30(2), August,
1948.

Margot, Pierre and Quinche, Nicolas, "Coulier, Paul-Jean (1824-

1890): A Precursor in the History of Fingermark Detection and
Their Potential Use for Identifying Their Source (1863)", Journal
of forensic identification, 60 (2), March-April 2010, pp. 129-134,
(published by the International Association for Identification).
Herschel information is from a Fingerprint Identification
presentation by T. Dickerson Cook at the annual meeting of the
Texas Division, International Association for Identification, at
Midland, Texas on 9 August 1954 (documented in Identification
News, April 1964, pp. 5-10).

August 2018 presentation by FBI Biometric Services/NGI Section

Chief William G. McKinsey at the International Association for
Identification's annual educational conference.

William and Will West images courtesy of Joshua L. Connelly,

CLPE, whose research into fingerprint history archives continues
to enlighten the friction ridge community.

Identification. (1896, May 16). Australian Town and Country

Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907), p. 28. Retrieved April 2,
2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71245769

Fingerprint versus DNA record numbers: In April 2021, the national

Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database finally reached the
milestone of having 20 million persons' DNA records on file. However
in April 2021, the US Government had over 420 million persons'
record fingerprints on file in FBI and DHS databases, i.e., 21
fingerprint records on file for every 1 DNA
record. https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/the-fbis-
combined-dna-index-system-codis-hits-major-milestone
https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/ngi-monthly-fact-sheet/march-
2021-ngi-system-fact-sheet.pdf
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-386.pdf

Search
Webservant