WEEK 14&15: FORENSIC 2 Personal Identification

Techniques

Personal Identification

Alphonse Bertillon - was a French criminologist and anthropologist who created

the first system of physical measurements, photography, and record-keeping
that police could use to identify recidivist criminals.

Ancient Babylon - fingerprints were used in clay tablets for business transactions.
1000 - 2000 BC

Anthropometry - the first system of personal identification.

Azizul Haque and Hem Chandra Bose(1897) - Two Indian fingerprint experts
credited with primary development of the Henry System of fingerprint
classification (named after their supervisor,
Edward Richard Henry).

Bertillon System - a system of identification which focuses on the meticulous

measurement and recording of different parts and components of the human
body.

Chiroscopy – It is the examination and thorough study of the palms of the

human hand as a point identifying persons.

Core -
1. Approximate center of the pattern
2. It is placed upon or within the innermost sufficient recurve.

Dactyl - finger

Dactylography - the scientific study of fingerprints as a means of identification.

Dactylomancy - the scientific study of fingerprint for the purposes of personality

interpretation.
Dactyloscopy - a method of studying fingerprints to establish identification.

Delta -
1. point on a ridge at or nearest to the point of divergence of two typelines and
2. is located at or directly in front of the point of divergence.

Dermal Papillae - is the irregular pegs composed of delicate connective tissue

protruding and forming ridges of the skin on the fingers, palms, toes, and soles of
the feet.

Dr. Henry P. DeForrest - he accomplished the first fingerprint file established in the
United States, and the first use of fingerprinting by a U.S. government agency.

Dr. Nehemiah Grew - in 1684, he was the first European to publish friction ridge
skin observations.

Edgeoscopy – the study of the morphological characteristics of friction ridges;

shape or contour of the edges of friction ridges.

Edmond Locard - informally referred to as the Sherlock Holmes of France, he

developed the science of poroscopy, the study of fingerprint pores and the
impressions produced by these pores. He went on to write that if 12 specific
points were identical between two fingerprints, it would be sufficient for positive
identification. This work led to the use of fingerprints in identifying criminals being
adopted over Bertillon's earlier technique of anthropometry.

Fingerprint - is an impression of the friction ridge of all or any part of the finger.
Fingerprint ridges are formed during the third to fourth month of fetal
development.

Fingerprint Classification Systems

1. The Henry Classification System – developed by Henry in the late 1800s.
2. Icnofalangometric System – the original name of the system developed by
Vucetichin 1891
3. Dactiloscopy – the new name of the system developed by Vucetich.
4. The Oloriz System of Classification – developed by Oloriz.
Identakey – developed in the 1930s by G. Tyler Mairs.
5. The American System of FingerprintClassification – developed by Parke in1903.
6. The Conley System. The Flack-ConleySystem – developed in 1906 in New
Jersey,an improved Conley System.
7. NCIC Fingerprint Classification System. Collins System – a classification system
for single fingerprint used in Scotland Yard in the early 1900s.
8. Jorgensen System – a classification system for single fingerprints used in the
early1900s.
9. Battley System – a classification system for single fingerprints used in the 1930s

Friction Skin - also called papillary skin, is the epidermal layer found on the
ventral or lower surface of the hands and feet covered with ridges and furrows.

Fundamental layers of friction skin

1. Epidermis - outer layer (stratum corneum, stratum mucusum)
2. Dermis - inner layer (blood vessel, dermal papipllae, various glands and
nerves)

Furrows - the depressed or canal-like structure/the white space between the

ridges.

Gilbert Thompson - He used his thumb print on a document to prevent forgery.

First known use of fingerprints in the U.S.

John Evangelist Purkinje - anatomy professor at the University of Breslau, in 1823,

he published his thesis discussing nine fingerprint patterns but he made no
mention of the value of fingerprints for
personal identification. He is considered by many as the Father of Dactyloscopy.
For purposes of the
criminology licensure examination, Johannes Evangelist Purkenji is the same
person as John Evangelist Purkinje.

Juan Vucetich - In 1892, two boys were brutally murdered in the village of
Necochea, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Initially, suspicion fell on a man named
Velasquez, a suitor of the children's mother, Francisca Rojas. Investigators found
a bloody fingerprint at the crime scene and contacted Juan Vucetich, who was
developing a system of fingerprint identification for police use. Vucetich
compared the fingerprints of Rojas and Velasquez with the bloody fingerprint.
Francisca Rojas had denied touching the bloody bodies, but the fingerprint
matched one of hers. Confronted with the evidence, she confessed—the first
successful use of fingerprint identification in a
murder investigation.

Loop -
1. One or more ridges enter upon either side
2. Recurve
3. Touch or pass an imaginary line between delta and core
4. Pass out or tend to pass out upon the same side the ridges entered.

Three Loop Characteristics

1. A sufficient recurve
2. A Delta
3. A ridge count across a looping ridge

Marcelo Malpighi - in 1686, an anatomy professor at the University of Bologna,

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

Mark Twain - author of the novel Pudd'nhead Wilson where one of the
characters has a hobby of collecting fingerprints.

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.

Poroscopy – refers to the examination of the shape,size and arrangement of the

small opening on friction ridge through which body fluids are secreted or
released. Poros (a pair), Skopien (to study)

Podoscopy – a term coined by Wilder and Wentwrth which refers to the

examination of the soles and their significance in personal identification. Podo
(foot), Skopien (to study)

Ridge - the elevated or hill-like structure (the black lines with white dots)
1. Recurving Ridge - a single ridge that curves back to the direction where it
started.
2. Ending Ridge - it refers to an abrupt end of a ridge
3. Enclosure or Lake Ridge - a single ridge that divides into two but does not
remain open and meet at a certain point to form the original single ridge.
4. Sufficent Recurve - a recurving ridge which is complete with its shoulder free
from any appendage.
5.Diverging Ridge - two ridges that split apart.
6.Converging Ridge - two ridges that meet at certain point.
7.Bifurcation - a ridge formation in which a single ridge splits or divides into 2 or
more ridges.
8.Ridge Dot (Island Ridge) - refers to a ridge formation in a form of a dot or
period.
9.Appendage - a short ridge found at the top or summit of a recurve.
10.Rod (Bar) - a short or long ridge found inside the recurve directed towards the
core.
11.Obstruction Ridge - short ridge found inside the recurve which blocks the
inner line of flow towards the core.
12.Typelines - a diverging ridge that tends to surround the pattern area and
serves as a basic boundary of fingerprint impression.
13.Pattern Area - a part of a loop or whorl pattern surrounded by typelines and
consisting of the delta, the core and other ridges.
14.Delta - also called the outer terminus, is a point along the ridge formation
found at the center or near the center of the diverging typelines.
15.Core - also called the heart or inner terminus, usually found at the center of
the innermost recurve.

Ridge Destruction - ridge destruction of the friction skin can either be temporary
or permanent. Generally temporary destruction occur when only the epidermis
layer of the friction skin has been damaged while permanent damage can be
injected to the friction skin due to the damage in the dermis layer.

Ridge Formation - ridges start to form in the fingers and thumb during the 3rd to
4th month of fetus life.
Ridgeology – describes the individualization process of any area of friction skin
using allavailable detail.

Ridge Characteristics
1. Ridge Dots - An isolated ridge unit whose length approximates its width in size.
2. Bifurcations - The point at which one friction ridge divides into two friction
ridges.
3. Trifurcations - The point at which one friction ridge divides into three friction
ridges.
4. Ending Ridge - A single friction ridge that terminates within the friction ridge
structure.
5. Ridge Crossing - A point where two ridge units intersect.
6. Enclosures (Lakes) - A single friction ridge that bifurcates and rejoins after a
short course and continues as a single friction ridge.
7. Short Ridges (Islands) - Friction ridges of varying lengths.
8. Spurs (Hooks) - A bifurcation with one short ridge branching off a longer ridge.
9. Bridges - A connecting friction ridge between parallel running ridges,
generally right angles.

Sir Edward Richard Henry - he was appointed Inspector-General of Police of

Bengal, India in 1891, he developed a system of fingerprint classification
enabling fingerprint records to be organized and searched with relative ease.

Sir Francis Galton - He devised a method of classifying fingerprints that proved

useful in forensic science. He pointed out that there were specific types of
fingerprint patterns. He described and classified them into eight broad
categories: 1: plain arch, 2: tented arch, 3: simple loop, 4: central pocket loop,
5: double loop, 6: lateral pocket loop, 7: plain whorl, and 8: accidental

Sir Henry Faulds - his first paper on the subject of fingerprint was published in the
scientific journal Nature in 1880. Examining his own fingertips and those of friends,
he became convinced that the
pattern of ridges was unique to each individual.

Sir William James Herschel - was a British officer in India who used fingerprints for
identification on contracts.
Skopien - to study or examine.

Sweat duct - the passage way.

Sweat gland - the producers of sweat.

Sweat pores - the tiny opening/the tiny white dot

Time Line - Fingerprints

1000-2000 B.C. - Fingerprints were used on clay tablets for business transactions
in ancient Babylon.

3rd Century B.C. - Thumbprints begin to be used on clay seals in China to “sign”
documents.

610-907 A.D. - During the T’ang Dynasty, a time when imperial China was one of
the most powerful and wealthy regions of the world, fingerprints are reportedly
used on official documents.

1st Century A.D. - A petroglyph located on a cliff face in Nova Scotia depicts a
hand with exaggerated ridges and finger whorls, presumably left by the
Mi'kmaq people.

14th Century A.D. - Many official government documents in Persia have

fingerprint impressions. One government physician makes the observation that
no two fingerprints were an exact match.

1686 - At the University of Bologna in Italy, a professor of anatomy named

Marcello Malpighi notes the common characteristics of spirals, loops and ridges
in fingerprints, using the newly invented microscope for his studies. In time, a
1.88mm thick layer of skin, the “Malpighi layer,” was named after him. Although
Malpighi was likely the first to document types of fingerprints, the value of
fingerprints as identification tools was never mentioned in his writings.

1823 - A thesis is published by Johannes Evengelista Purkinje, professor of

anatomy with the University of Breslau, Prussia. The thesis details a full nine
different fingerprint patterns. Still, like Malpighi, no mention is made of
fingerprints as an individual identification method.

1858 - The Chief Magistrate of the Hooghly district in Jungipoor, India, Sir William
Herschel, first used fingerprints to “sign” contracts with native Indians. In July of
1858, a local businessman named Rajyadhar Konai put his hand print on the
back of a contract at Herschel’s request. Herschel was not
motivated by the need to prove personal identity; rather, his motivation was to
simply “frighten (Konai) out of all thought of repudiating his signature.” As the
locals felt more bound to a contract through this personal contact than if it was
just signed, as did the ancient Babylonians and Chinese, Herschel adopted the
practice permanently. Later, only the prints of the right index and middle fingers
were required on contracts. In time, after viewing a number of fingerprints,
Herschel noticed that no two prints were exactly alike, and he observed that
even in widespread use, the fingerprints could be used for personal
identification purposes.

1880 - Dr. Henry Faulds, a British surgeon and Superintendent of Tsukiji Hospital in
Tokyo, published an article in the Scientific Journal, "Nautre" (nature). He
discussed fingerprints as a means of personal identification, and the use of
printers ink as a method for obtaining such fingerprints. Faulds had begun his
study of what he called “skin-furrows” during the 1870s after looking at
fingerprints on pieces of old clay pottery. He is also credited with the first
fingerprint identification: a greasy print left by a laboratory worker on a bottle of
alcohol. Soon, Faulds began to recognize that the distinctive patterns on fingers
held great promise as a means of individual identification, and developed a
classification system for recording these inked impressions. Also in 1880, Faulds
sent a description of his fingerprint classification system to Sir Charles Darwin.
Darwin, aging and in poor health, declined to assist Dr. Faulds in the further study
of fingerprints, but forwarded the information on to his cousin, British scientist Sir
Francis Galton.

1882 - Gilbert Thompson, employed by the U.S. Geological Survey in New

Mexico, uses his own fingerprints on a document to guard against forgery. This
event is the first known use of fingerprints for identification in America.
1883 - “Life on the Mississippi,” a novel by Mark Twain, tells the story of a
murderer who is identified by the use of fingerprints. His later book "Pudd'n Head
Wilson” includes a courtroom drama involving fingerprint identification.

1888 - Sir Francis Galton’s began his study of fingerprints during the 1880s,
primarily to develop a tool for determining genetic history and hereditary traits.
Through careful study of the work of Faulds, which he learned of through his
cousin Sir Charles Darwin, as well as his examination of fingerprints collected by
Sir William Herschel, Galton became the first to provide scientific evidence that
no two fingerprints are exactly the same, and that prints remain the same
throughout a person’s lifetime. He calculated that the odds of finding two
identical fingerprints were 1 in 64 billion.

1892 - Galton’s book “Fingerprints” is published, the first of its kind. In the book,
Galton detailed the first classification system for fingerprints; he identified three
types (loop, whorl, and arch) of characteristics for fingerprints (also known as
minutia). These characteristics are to an extent still in use today, often referred to
as Galton’s Details.

1892 - Juan Vucetich, an Argentine police official, had recently begun keeping
the first fingerprint files based on Galton’s Details. History was made that year
when Vucetich made the first criminal fingerprint identification. A woman
named Rojas had murdered her two sons, then cut her own throat to
deflect blame from herself. Rojas left a bloody print on a doorpost. After
investigators matched the crime scene print to that of the accused, Rojas
confessed. Vucetich eventually developed his own system of classification, and
published a book entitled Dactiloscopía Comparada ("Comparative
Fingerprinting") in 1904, detailing the Vucetich system, still the most used system
in Latin America.

1896 - British official Sir Edward Richard Henry had been living in Bengal, and was
looking to use a system similar to that of Herschel’s to eliminate problems within
his jurisdiction. After visiting Sir Francis Galton in England, Henry returned to
Bengal and instituted a fingerprinting program for all prisoners. By July of 1896,
Henry wrote in a report that the classification limitations had not yet been
addressed. A short time later, Henry developed a system of his own, which
included 1,024 primary classifications. Within a year, the Governor
General signed a resolution directing that fingerprinting was to be the official
method of identifying criminals in British India.

1901 - Back in England and Wales, the success of the “Henry Fingerprint
Classification System” in India was creating a stir, and a committee was formed
to review Scotland Yard's identification methods. Henry was then transferred to
England, where he began training investigators to use the Henry Classification
System after founding Scotland Yard's Central Fingerprint Bureau. Within a few
years, the Henry Classification System was in use around the world, and
fingerprints had been established as the uniform system of identification for the
future. The Henry Classification System is still in use today in English speaking
countries around the globe.

1902 - Alphonse Bertillon, director of the Bureau of Identification of the Paris

Police, is responsible for the first criminal identification of a fingerprint without a
known suspect. A print taken from the scene of a homicide was compared
against the criminal fingerprints already on file, and a match was made,
marking another milestone in law enforcement technology. Meanwhile, the
New York Civil Service Commission, spearheaded by Dr. Henry P. DeForrest,
institutes testing of the first systematic use of fingerprints in the United States.

1903 - Fingerprinting technology comes into widespread use in the United States,
as the New York Police Department, the New York State Prison system and the
Federal Bureau of Prisons begin
working with the new science.

1904 - The St. Louis Police Department and the Leavenworth State Penitentiary in
Kansas start utilizing fingerprinting, assisted by a Sergeant from Scotland Yard
who had been guarding the British Display at the St. Louis Exposition.

1905 - The U.S. Army gets on the fingerprinting bandwagon, and within three
years was joined by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. In the ensuing 25 years, as
more law enforcement agencies joined in using fingerprints as personal
identification methods, these agencies began sending copies of the fingerprint
cards to the recently established National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

1911 - The first central storage location for fingerprints in North America is
established in Ottawa by Edward Foster of the Dominion Police Force. The
repository is maintained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and while it
originally held only 2000 sets of fingerprints, today the number is over 2 million.

1924 - The U.S. Congress acts to establish the Identification Division of the F.B.I.
The National Bureau and Leavenworth are consolidated to form the basis of the
F.B.I. fingerprint repository. By 1946, the F.B.I. had processed 100 million fingerprint
cards; that number doubles by 1971.

1990s - AFIS, or Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems, begin widespread

use around the country. This computerized system of storing and
cross-referencing criminal fingerprint records would eventually become capable
of searching millions of fingerprint files in minutes, revolutionizing law
enforcement efforts.

1996 - As Americans become more concerned with the growing missing and
abducted children problem, and law enforcement groups urge the
fingerprinting of children for investigative purposes in
the event of a child becoming missing, Chris Migliaro founds Fingerprint America
in Albany, NY. The company provides a simple, at-home fingerprinting and
identification kit for parents,
maintaining the family’s privacy while protecting and educating children about
the dangers of abduction. By 2001, the company distributes over 5 million Child
ID Fingerprinting Kits around the world.

1999 - The FBI phases out the use of paper fingerprint cards with their new
Integrated AFIS (IAFIS) site at Clarksburg, West Virginia. IAFIS will starts with
individual computerized fingerprint records
for approximately 33 million criminals, while the outdated paper cards for the
civil files are kept at a facility in Fairmont, West Virginia.

Typelines -
1. Two innermost ridges that start or go parallel
2. Diverge and surround or tend to surround the pattern area

Types of Fingerprints
 1. Visible Prints
2. Latent Prints
3. Impressed Prints

Visible Prints - also called patent prints and are left in some medium,
like blood, that reveals them to the naked eye when blood, dirt, ink or
grease on the finger come into contact with a smooth surface and
leave a friction ridge impression that is visible without development.

Latent Prints - not apparent to the naked eye. They are formed
from the sweat from sebaceous glands on the body or water, salt,
amino acids and oils contained in sweat.
They can be made sufficiently visible by dusting, fuming or
chemical reagents.

Impressed prints - also called plastic prints and are indentations

left in soft pliable surfaces, such as clay, wax, paint or another
surface that will take the impression.
They are visible and can be viewed or photographed without
development.

Types of Patterns

1. Arch a. Plain Arch

b. Tented Arch
2. Loop a. Radial Loop
b. Ulnar Loop
3. Whorl a. Plain Whorl
b. Central Pocket Loop
c. Double Loop
d. Accidental Whorl
Plain Arch - 1. Ridges enter upon one side
2. Make a rise or wave in the center
3. Flow or tend to flow out upon the opposite side.

Tented Arch - Possesses an 1. Angle

 2. Upthrust
3. Two of The Three basic characteristics of the
loop

Ulnar loop - flow toward the little finger - ulna bone.

Radial Loop - flow toward the thumb - radius bone.

Plain Whorl - 1. Consists of one or more ridges which make or tend to make a
complete circuit
2. With 2 delta's
3. Between which, when an imaginary line is drawn, at least one
recurving ridge within the inner pattern area is cut or touched.

Central Pocket Loop - 1. Consists of at least one recurving ridge or

2. An obstruction at right angles to the line of flow
3. With 2 delta's
4. Between which, when an imaginary line is drawn, no
recurving ridge within the inner pattern area is cut or
touched.

Double Loop - 1. Consists of two separate loop formations

2. With two separate and distinct set of shoulders and
3. Two delta's

Accidental Whorl - 1. Consists of a combination of two different types of

patterns with the exception of the plain arch
2. With 2 or more delta's or
3. A pattern which possesses some of the requirements
for 2 or more different types or a pattern which conforms to
none of the definitions.