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about Fingerprints
Updated 13 August 2024
Please search this Forum if you don't find answers you seek below. The answers on this page come from several sources, including Certified Latent Print Examiners from the International Association for Identification and fingerprint expert Fellows and Members of The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (formerly The Fingerprint Society). Insofar as possible, content conforms with guidelines of the International Association for Identification (IAI) and the Office of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC) . Officially though, these answers do not purport to represent anything other than Ed German's general topic answers about fingerprints. Comments
and suggestions about this page are welcome.
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- sex
- age
- presence of scars
- presence of whorl, loop and arch formations in various fingers
- ridge
counts and tracings between different pattern focal points (deltas and
cores)
Thus, for example, at the FBI's former Identification Division with over 200 million fingerprint cards, no individual card and no individual fingerprint was ever completely compared against all the other fingerprints on file. In such manual filing systems fingerprints were compared only with corresponding fingerprint cards possessing the same class characteristics.
This all changed with the advent of AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems), and many agencies have now compared thousands of individual fingerprints (such as fingertip impressions from crime scenes) against every fingerprint in the entire repository. None have been found to have the same individual characteristics in the same unit relationship.
Math is the only exact science. However, fingerprint identification lends itself well to mathematical validation. As of September 2018, all large-scale AFIS sites (with many millions of fingerprint records) make fingerprint card to fingerprint card identifications without human intervention. Latent prints (finger, palm and foot) from crime scenes are not typically identified by computers primarily because of the lower quantity and quality of friction ridge detail typically recorded due to substrate/background interference (dirt, scratches on items/surfaces touched, etc.) and the relatively poor clarity of many crime scene latent prints.
When DNA evolved as a science, the term "DNA fingerprinting" was adopted to lend credibility to that science's newcomer status which was in its infancy compared with the empirical validation of fingerprint identification worldwide. DNA analysis as commonly practiced in forensic science laboratories cannot differentiate between identical twins, but fingerprints have always been able to differentiate identical twins.
Latent fingerprints from crime scenes tend to solve more cases in forensic laboratories worldwide NOT because it is better science than DNA and other forensic disciplines, but because there are many more fingerprint records on file from arrested persons than there are DNA records from such persons AND because latent print processing and searching in automated databases is much less expensive and faster than DNA casework examinations. Often latent print examinations are less than 1% of the cost of DNA examinations, especially if the DNA analysis is more thorough and includes nuclear, Y-STRs and mitochondrial analysis.
* In recent years, the terms positive identification and individualization (meaning absolute certainty) have 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.
The latent print and record prints have corresponding ridge detail. The likelihood of observing this amount of correspondence when two impressions are made by different sources is considered extremely low.
As of 2018, many forensic laboratories include an addendum to Latent Print reports explaining the limitations of the science. Click here to see a PDF sample of such an addendum and here to see a Word (.docx) sample.
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.
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The basic fundamentals of the science
of fingerprint identification are persistence and individuality.
Persistence: Fingerprint ridges are formed during the third to fourth month of fetal development. These ridges consist of individual characteristics called ridge endings, bifurcations, dots and many ridge shape variances. The unit relationship of individual characteristics does not naturally change throughout life... until decomposition after death. After formation, an infant's growing fingerprint ridges are much like drawing a face on a balloon with a ball-point pen and then inflating the balloon to see the same face expand relatively uniformly in all directions. Unnatural changes to fingerprint ridges include deep cuts or injuries penetrating all layers of the dermis and epidermis, and some diseases such as leprosy. Scars, disease damage, and temporary changes such as paper cuts appear as jagged edges and sometimes "puckered" ridge detail in opposition to smooth flowing natural formations. Warts can come and go, but generally push apart an area of friction ridges and can disappear completely when the wart is gone because they are not a part of the friction ridge structure. Look at a wart with a magnifying glass and you will notice that the friction ridges "surround" the wart. Senile atrophy of friction skin due to old age causes the ridges to often almost flatten, causing fingerprints with many creases and poorly defined ridges (creases are also associated with the overall friction ridge structure but not always persistent). Oddly, newborn infants also often have more creases than clearly defined ridge detail in their barefoot prints. The creases are unique, but change relatively rapidly and often disappear as the infant grows. The best chance of seeing friction skin ridges on newborn infant footprints is to look carefully with a magnifying glass on and near the big toe. Individuality*: In the over 140 years that fingerprints have been routinely compared worldwide, no two areas of friction skin on any two persons (including identical twins) have been found to contain the same individual characteristics in the same unit relationship. This means that in general, any area of friction skin that you can cover with a dime (and often with just a pencil eraser) on your fingers, palms, or soles of your feet will contain sufficient individual characteristics in an individual unit relationship to enable identification. Recent studies comparing the fingerprints of cloned monkeys showed that they, just like identical twin humans, have completely different fingerprints. When doctors state that twins have the same fingerprints, they are referring to the class characteristics of the general ridge flow, called the fingerprint pattern. These loop, arch and whorl ridge flow patterns are not the individual characteristics used to identify persons. Before modern computerized systems, fingerprint classification was essential to enable manual filing and retrieval of fingerprints in large repositories. For many years experts testified that no two fingerprints in the hundreds of millions of fingerprint cards on file in America had ever been found to be alike. This was misleading in that large fingerprint files were for the first 110 years of police usage separated into small file categories by class characteristics such as: Elem. Student Answer
Police Officer's Answer
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The basic fundamentals in
the science of fingerprint identification are persistence and
individuality.
Beyond the John Q. Public info you can read by clicking here, you should know that a "positive identification" is not necessarily a "positive identification". The science of friction ridge identification leaves very little room for error when professional guidelines are followed in its application... but, in any field of human endeavor (including simple math addition, subtraction, etc.) there will always be oversights. Every competent fingerprint expert will have an identification* verified. Procedurally, at most agencies it is not an identification until it is verified by another competent expert. Most state and federal level crime labs will not even inform you that a fingerprint match occurred until after the "identification" has been verified. An exception to this rule is fingerprint card to fingerprint card identifications made in some Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) computers. Latent print "matching" scores at AFIS sites are normally evaluated and "verified" by two human experts before the "identification" is reported. Never base an identification on just the matching fingerprint classification. A matching fingerprint classification (Henry classification, NCIC classification, etc.) means only that the person printed belongs to the group of persons whose prints all have that same classification... just like sorting out a large number of persons based on sex, age, height, weight, eye color, etc. The identification should be verified by a well qualified fingerprint expert based on a comparison of the individual characteristics in the fingerprints... not based on the classification. In some agencies the inked print to inked print identifications are automatically reported after computerized matching in an AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) with a minimum matching "score" set so high that human intervention is not necessary. Low score matches in an AFIS are checked and verified by humans. Do NOT have an arrest warrant issued based on a fingerprint "match" unless you are certain of the credentials of the expert. Unless an ID tech at your agency was an expert before they attended schools such as the one-week FBI classification course and the one-week FBI latent print techniques course, they did NOT leave those schools as experts (the FBI issues certificates of attendance... not certificates of successful course completion). Although American law accepts them as experts with such little training, they are not. In court they only have to have more knowledge about fingerprints than the average man on the street to be legally qualified as an expert. Most fingerprint experts train for at least two or three years under the watchful eye of experienced Latent Print Examiners before they are allowed to work unsupervised on latent prints from crime scenes. Self-training can equip an ID tech at a small department with the same two weeks of experience, 50 times over. Also, a deputy who looks at latent prints a couple of hours per month for ten years does NOT have ten years experience... he has the equivalent of a few weeks of crime lab type experience... and it is poor quality experience if his work was not reviewed. How much is he missing if he only takes his "idents" to someone else for verification. He may only be identifying the prints a chimp could match and missing more difficult impressions. Although there are very competent fingerprint experts in America who hold no certification, over nine hundred have attained the title of Certified Latent Print Examiners from the International Association for Identification (IAI) after completion of stringent testing (most years less than 50% of those persons taking the six hour exam have passed). In recent years the IAI has simplified the classification portion of the test and there is now no reason for any latent print examiner to avoid testing with excuses such as, "I only work with latent fingerprints and don't do filing so I can't be tested on classification." Suspect their expertise if they use such excuses. A part time expert with poor quality training will not be able to pass the examination.
* In recent years, the terms positive identification and individualization (meaning absolute certainty) have 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. The latent print and record prints have corresponding ridge detail. The likelihood of observing this amount of correspondence when two impressions are made by different sources is considered extremely low. As of 2018, many forensic laboratories include an addendum to Latent Print reports explaining the limitations of the science. Click here to see a PDF sample of such an addendum and here to see a Word (.docx) sample. 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.
John Q. Public's Answer
Elem. Student Answer
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The basic fundamentals of
fingerprints are persistence and individuality.
You will end up permanently in jail if you live in one of the "three strikes and you're out" states after the third time your fingerprints are found at the crime scene. The individuality of your fingerprints makes it easier to keep your arrest record separate from other convicts.
Wear gloves... we sometimes like to identify you from your shoe prints, that drop of blood by the broken window, or the many other traces of your presence left behind. Back to Question List Page Top |
| Why didn't
the police dust my house (or car) for prints when I reported that
thieves broke in?
Q2
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Who are you?
Click on the correct category to see the best answer:
Elementary School StudentJohn Q. PublicPolice OfficerCriminal |
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They probably didn't have enough time to do everything
possible. The police must divide their time between many
different crimes each day.
John
Q. Public's Answer
Police Officer's Answer
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Time and money... and
maybe poor training.
Time: No agency can do everything in every case. Every law enforcement agency (and forensic laboratory) must balance their resources to best support society with accurate, timely and thorough forensic science support (and thoroughness is always sacrificed before accuracy and timeliness. Many police agencies are understaffed and thus do not process crime scenes when no personal injury occurred, or when the dollar value of damage and items stolen is under a certain amount (such as $1,000 or $5,000). Money: As with the paragraph above, police budgets may limit the manpower (time) available for processing some crime scenes. Also, because of money you normally do NOT want the police to process all the surfaces in your home or car using all possible processing methods to collect all available latent fingerprints. For example, using all possible methods in your car would make it worthless. Using all possible methods in your home would probably mean the destruction of carpeting and furniture, plus the sealing (with lacquer, etc.) and repainting of many wall surfaces to repair dye stain and chemical damage. It is not unusual for a crime laboratory or evidence response team to do tens of thousands of dollars in damage to a home they completely process (typically for a who-done-it murder). Poor training: Ask the average policeman who comes to your house what is left behind in latent fingerprints and he will probably say "oils." That could happen if the burglar were eating fried chicken, just put on hair oil, or was rubbing his/her oily face... but, oil and fatty substance secreting glands on the human body (sebaceous glands and apocrine glands) are NOT present on surfaces lacking hair... that is, NOT on finger, palm or barefoot friction ridge skin. A slight amount of trace oil can sometimes be present because of "flow" on the skin surface from the back of the hand to the front, but such oil is only a slight trace compared with the oil you get on your fingers from rubbing your nose or forehead. Natural secretions from the sweat secreting glands (called eccrine glands) on fingers and palms (and bare feet) secrete NO OILS. They secrete about 98 or 99 per cent water, and the solids dissolved in the water include amino acids, proteins, polypeptides, and salts. If you want to
duplicate the basic effect of fingerprints on evidence, clean off a
rubber name stamp so it leaves no ink traces behind. Next dip
it into a solution of chicken broth. Shake off the excess
liquid and stamp the impression on a drinking glass. Within a
few minutes the liquid will dry and the impression will be almost
invisible. Make another test impression on a piece of paper
and let it dry. Unless you happen to have oily chicken broth
you have just roughly (very roughly) duplicated the natural secretions
present in latent fingerprints at crime scenes. Some
researchers have compared dried eccrine gland secretions to a very
faint coating of dried "shellac." On what kinds of evidence can fingerprints be developed? Many police will remark that a certain surface cannot be processed for fingerprints. Any surface that is about as smooth as the miniature corrugated cardboard type ridges on your fingers can potentially bear identifiable latent fingerprints... and the flexibility of the finger skin can often also conform to relatively rough surfaces such as imitation leather dashboards. Fingerprints from crime scenes have been identified on papers, cigarettes, fruit, crumpled aluminum cans, plastic garbage bags, bed sheets, rocks, dead bodies (prints on bodies are usually contaminated prints involving body fluids, lipstick or some other substance transferred via the suspect's fingers), and thousands of other surfaces How long do fingerprints last on evidence? Fingerprints on paper, cardboard and unfinished wood can last for up to forty years (per actual casework histories) unless exposed to water (and contaminate transfer prints can even then sometimes persist). Fingerprints on non-porous surfaces such as plastic, metal and glass can last for many years if not exposed to water and if left undisturbed. Can a Fingerprint Expert determine if latent prints are "fresh" versus old? Estimates about the age of latent prints are unreliable when the experts guessing have no idea what was on the fingers that touched a surface. Latent prints that develop "quickly, strongly or dark" are not necessarily consistent with having been "recently" deposited. Unless scientific analysis of latent print residue on evidence was completed before processing with powder or chemicals to visualize latent prints (which is an analysis seldom performed because latent prints tend to be invisible until processed), then the nature of the latent print residue deposited by the fingers or palms cannot be known (whether it was fried chicken oil, grease, natural secretions from the fingers, etc.). Circumstantial evidence such as information that an item was cleaned thoroughly with glass cleaner, soap and water, etc., could date latent prints on the item as not being older than the last thorough cleaning. So what is normal if the police do come out and process your home or car for latent prints? Unless it's a murder or rape, they usually only dust with powder for prints even though it leaves behind or destroys probably over 50% of the identifiable prints on glass, plastic and metal surfaces. If the responding police are knowledgeable and have the time/money to give good service for your situation, they will probably use a strong flashlight and carefully look at shiny surfaces for fingerprints which can often be photographed without dusting... and using a strong flashlight they can also save time by not dusting a dresser top that has an undisturbed layer of house dust on it (it wasn't touched by the perpetrator). Good crime scene procedure at a burglary or rape also involves making the rooms dark and looking with a strong flashlight for footwear impressions in dust (especially behind a TV or VCR location on tile or vinyl floors). Such footwear impressions can be photographed, and then lifted with electrostatic dust lifters, gel lifters, or specially prepared (black) silicon rubber. Investigators should dust the doors, windows, dressers and other large, immovable surfaces after photographing identifiable prints they found with special lighting (such as bouncing the flashlight almost straight back into the camera from the shiny surface, or sometimes skimming the flashlight beam just across the surface). Yes, just looking with a flashlight and dusting leaves behind many of the identifiable latent prints... but, it is normally not reasonable to do tens of thousands of dollars damage to a home or business to get every possible latent fingerprint from a burglary. Such processing also takes days and the home/business cannot be occupied while the chemical processing is in progress. In an ideal situation, investigators should collect and take with them any small items (especially envelopes that were opened... burglars often remove gloves because this is difficult unless barehanded) known to have been touched, and which are okay to be destroyed during processing. Sometimes only a portion of an item (computer exterior case only, etc.) will be collected for processing so as to limit the destructive dollar value and still maximize the chance of solving the crime. Ideally, nonporous surfaces (which a drop of water would probably not soak into) should be superglue fumed at the crime scene before transit OR transported in such a way as to minimize contact between any smooth surfaces and packaging materials/containers. A beer bottle, for example, should either be superglue fumed at the crime scene or carried upright in a box with minimal contact against any side surfaces. Putting a beer bottle (or gun, can, knife, credit card, etc.) in a plastic or paper bag (or envelope) can sometimes be about the same as wiping it clean. Investigators should never dust paper or cardboard surfaces with fingerprint powder if the surface can be collected for chemical processing. Dusting papers and cardboard gets very few prints (only those with contaminants such as oil from eating fried chicken). Investigators often learn about dusting papers at training where it works well on oily prints from intentionally touching their face, or on "fresh" natural secretion prints that haven't had a chance for the water to dry yet. In the real world, it is poor police procedure unless they are just wanting to make victims feel better that at least the police appear to be trying. The police may look at your home/car with an alternate light source while wearing goggles to see fingerprints that might glow (when viewed through orange goggles or filters). They may also use the same light without goggles like a strong flashlight. Alternate light sources are similar to a portable laser, with only a few wavelengths of light shining - typically blue-green or UV. Without doing hours of fuming and other chemical preparation, the chances of finding a fingerprint that glows without chemical treatment (called inherent luminescence) are slim. However, if the police use the visible wavelengths (not UV) of the alternate light source without goggles like a strong flashlight, then they at least have a fair chance of finding some fingerprints. Often they will use an orange or green colored dusting powder along with an alternate light source. The bottom line is that a ten dollar flashlight with fresh batteries will find as many or more crime scene fingerprints than an alternate light source without using special chemical fuming and dye stains that tend to destroy the surface processed. Back to Question List Page Top |
- Pick up a gun, glass, bottle, knife, credit card, etc., with gloves or a handkerchief touching any place the perpetrator's prints might be. Papers can be handled with gloves or your handkerchief without harming latent prints so long as your gloves or handkerchief are not oily or contaminated. Never, ever dust papers or cardboard with powder unless you are just doing a "public relations show" and are willing to ignore excellent latent fingerprints that can be developed with chemicals.
- Put that same gun, glass, bottle, knife, credit card, etc., in a plastic bag, paper bag or envelope... you are destroying latent prints that may exist where the packaging material comes into contact with it.... it's about the same as wiping it clean in many instances. Either transport the item to the crime lab in such a manner that minimizes any contact of smooth evidence surfaces with anything else... or superglue fume the evidence before transport (you won't hurt DNA or drug testing per recent research).
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In addition to the information you can read in the John Q. Public
answer by clicking here, you
should know that latent fingerprints are very fragile and you are
destroying them if you:
Fingerprints are not normally oily so you should realize that just dusting with powder is probably going to miss 50% of the identifiable latent prints that could be found if all possible crime scene processing techniques were utilized. Most crimes cannot justify such expenses of time and manpower, so your compromise is to dust the points of entry, exit and surfaces known to have been touched (this will get the occasional oily contaminated latent prints there)... AND collect smaller items that can be processed at the crime lab for all possible prints. Those small items will be basically destroyed with chemicals. Carry the office and home phone numbers of a Latent Print Examiner from your supporting crime lab in your crime scene processing kit. Call him up and ask questions if uncertain. Those folks exist to support your forensic science needs. Back to Question List Page Top |
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You are lucky! The police can't do everything, every time...
but, keep looking over your shoulder, just in case.
Back to Question List Page Top |
| Are
fingerprints inherited... are they more similar between family members
than between strangers?
Q3
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Who are you?
Click on the correct category to see the best answer:
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Are fingerprints inherited... are they more similar
between family members than between strangers?
The general shape or overall pattern of finger and palm prints can be inherited. Family members will often have similar patterns or designs (whorls, loops, etc.) on the same fingers of their hands. The tiny details in the fingerprint ridges, however, are not inherited and are different between all friction skin areas of all persons... even between twins. John Q. Public's Answer
Police Officer's Answer
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Are fingerprints inherited... are they more similar
between family members than between strangers?
The overall general flow or pattern (Level 1 detail) of friction ridges on human hands and feet is governed primarily by the height and position of the volar pads formed before birth. The formation of the volar pads is affected by inherited traits from the parents. High pads will form whorls, low pads arches, a medium height pad to one side a loop, etc. Thus twins or close relatives may have very similar ridge flow patterns (also called finger or palm print classification). A few related articles are listed as follows: Heredity in Fingerprints ,G. Shahan, ID News, Vol XX, No. 4, pp. 1, 10-14. A Family Fingerprint Project, J.S. McCANN, ID News, May 1975, pp. 7-11. Inherited
Characteristics In Fingerprints: (or Theory of Relativity),
T. Jones, The Print, Vol 4, No. 5. Elem. Student Answer
Police Officer's Answer
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Are fingerprints inherited... are they more similar
between family members than between strangers?
Fingerprint patterns are inherited and thus non-fingerprint experts looking in a police fingerprint file must be careful not to confuse fingerprint records of close relatives based on fingerprint classification (Level 1 detail). Likewise, a National Crime Information Center Fingerprint Classification Code (FPC) may be very similar for close relatives. The actual finger and palm print detail used to effect an identification is not inherited and experts have no problem differentiating even identical twins. See the John Q. Public
answer for more details. John Q. Public's Answer
Elem. Student Answer
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Are fingerprints inherited... are they more similar
between family members than between strangers?
Only the overall whorl, loop, etc., patterns are inherited. The police might confuse your fingerprints with your twin brother's... for about ten seconds. The moment they put a magnifying glass on them they will see obvious differences. Back to Question List Page Top |
| Is fingerprint identification a science.... and
can tiny fragments of finger or palm prints be reliably identified in
accordance with modern legal and scientific guidelines?
Q4
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Who are you?
Click on the correct category to see the best answer:
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Is fingerprint
identification a science.... and can tiny fragments of finger or palm
prints be reliably identified in accordance with modern legal and
scientific guidelines? Yes. It is scientific. Fingerprints have been collected, observed and tested as a means of reliably identifying persons for more than 100 years. Scientists have proven the validity of fingerprint identification, including tiny fragments, in courts throughout the world for many years. John Q. Public's Answer
Police Officer's Answer
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Is fingerprint
identification a science.... and can tiny fragments of finger or palm
prints be reliably compared in accordance with modern legal and
scientific guidelines?
Yes. Some common definitions of science are: The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.With over 100 years of systematic observation and scrutiny, detailed in thousands of pages of peer reviewed observations worldwide, friction ridge identification easily qualifies as a science. Court challenges to the scientific nature of friction ridge identification are not new and were attempted even before recent court decisions. Daubert hearings are the "flavor of the day" insofar as the format of fingerprint challenges. Instead of seeking their own independent expert to determine if the government erred in its incriminating identification work, Defense instead attacks the scientific validity of even making such identifications. Daubert Opinion States that: • the trial judge must still screen scientific evidence to ensure it is relevant and reliable;Because of the overwhelming evidence of the validity of friction ridge examination as a science, Defense does not tend to challenge the basic fundamentals of friction ridge identification: "individuality and persistence." Instead, the tactic is to attempt to differentiate crime scene evidence impressions as somehow a different type of comparison from what occurs between arrest and conviction fingerprint records (which form the basis for the criminal arrest histories in America). Of the Daubert criteria factors the court should consider, Defense typically attacks the "rate of error" most stringently. Unfortunately for them, in Daubert the rate of error has to do with the scientific procedure or methodology, and not with mistakes occasionally made by individual experts. Defense points to the low rate of success (about 50%) for experts during the testing process for certification as a Latent Print Examiner by the International Association for Identification. What Defense does NOT advertise, is that the low success rate is due to the difficulty in making enough identifications within the time allotted, and not due to erroneous identifications (though the stringent time constriction for the test could tempt a participant to guess when they are not certain). Defense also points to results of annual proficiency tests purchased by laboratories. The test results pointed out by Defense included a number of non-fingerprint expert results which did not accurately reflect the capabilities of certified experts and others who embrace and work within national standards. Some of the experts producing errors were merely forensic scientists (perhaps professors?) without expertise in friction ridge identification. Defense concentrates on terms like "tiny, smudged and distorted" crime scene finger and palm prints in an attempt to differentiate criminal evidence fingerprint work from arrest history fingerprint identifications. The assumption that crime scene impression identification is different from inked print to inked print comparisons is false. It is not unusual for crime scene friction ridge impressions to have better quality and quantity of ridge detail than the inked prints to which they are compared. It is also not unusual for the comparison of poor quality inked fingerprint cards to be as difficult as crime scene impression comparisons. The friction ridge detail is represented as "better or worse quality and quantity" information, regardless of whether the recording medium is ink, sweat, blood, oil, or digital capture using a live scan fingerprint "reader." FRICTION RIDGE IDENTIFICATIONS ARE MADE USING THE (ACE-V) PROCESS. Depending on the quality (clarity) and quality of friction ridge detail present, a fingerprint expert comparing two inked prints between arrest fingerprint cards may use ALL of the information in the questioned inked impression (on the new FP card) to effect an identification against a file print. Defense typically avoids the fact that an identification is often established between arrest FP cards using only a fraction of the friction ridge detail present in two inked prints... exactly the same way crime scene impressions are compared. As explained here,
there is zero tolerance for identification errors in friction ridge
identification. Friction ridge identification is reliable.
Elem. Student Answer
Police Officer's Answer
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Is fingerprint
identification a science.... and can tiny fragments of finger or palm
prints be reliably identified in accordance with modern legal and
scientific guidelines?
Yes - Ask your supporting forensic unit or crime laboratory about their compliance with national and international forensic standards, guidelines, and best practices for training to competency, annual proficiency testing, and other quality assurance measures. Challenges to science are valuable to protect society. Although it is often easy for forensic scientists to discount challenges as just more courtroom drama, such challenges are important to protect justice and help improve judicial, government and forensic processes. Persons claiming fingerprint identification is junk science include the following: 1 - Defense attorneys who don't claim the incriminating fingerprints were not made by their client, but instead that fingerprints cannot be scientifically linked to their client in a crime lab. Yes, they know they can click here and hire an independent expert with credentials as good as the government's expert for less than the cost of a Daubert hearing.Also see the John Q. Public answer for more details. John Q. Public's Answer
Elem. Student Answer
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Is fingerprint
identification a science.... and can tiny fragments of finger or palm
prints be reliably identified in accordance with modern legal and
scientific guidelines?
Unfortunately for you, YES. Unfortunately for the fingerprint experts who identified your prints, Daubert hearings are the current flavor of the month insofar as nuisance challenges your attorney can use to postpone your trial. Humor attempts aside, if your fingerprint was erroneously identified and that error is what incriminates you... there is a 100% chance the error can be brought to light and the record set straight. For the cost of an engine tune-up, your attorney or family can hire a certified independent expert to review the incriminating identification(s). The science of friction ridge identification is sound, and the same experts who tout its validity to identify criminals will work equally hard to rectify an identification error by one of "their own." There exists zero tolerance for identification errors. In the very rare instance where a fingerprint identification mistake results in an erroneous criminal arrest, the agency involved is almost always very forthcoming in admitting the error (usually exposed by another agency or an independent expert). In recent decades, Scotland's national fingerprint forensic unit and the FBI Laboratory have both been involved in cases where their fingerprint experts made erroneous identifications causing false arrests. The resulting embarrassment and internal investigations revealed problems in the scientific process and resulted in important changes to help those laboratories (and the rest of the forensic community) improve latent finger and palm print (friction ridge) processes for greater accuracy. Both the Scottish Criminal Records Office's fingerprint experts and the FBI Laboratory learned important lessons and significantly improved their forensic processes. Because the scientific discipline of friction ridge identification has no state or national boundaries, the truth WILL be known and incompetent or fraudulent identification practices will be revealed (unless you are unfortunate enough to live in a country with corrupt government officials and/or corrupt judicial officers/judges). Fingerprint experts do not (or at least should not)
care whether or not you committed the crime of which you are accused
(they are witnesses to available information from collected evidence,
not judge and jury), but they DO care whether or not the friction ridge
identification linking you to a crime (or helping exonerate you) is
accurate. |
| Why do only some
crime labs search
unsolved case fingerprints in the FBI's national fingerprint file
(NGI)?
Q5
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Who are you?
Click on the correct category to see the best answer:
Elementary School StudentJohn Q. PublicPolice OfficerCriminal |
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Why
do only some crime labs search unsolved case fingerprints in the FBI's
national fingerprint file (NGI)?
Some crime laboratories do not have enough people or money to search all crime scene fingerprints in the FBI's computerized files. Some do not even have enough people or money to operate a computerized fingerprint file for their own city or county. John Q. Public's Answer
Police Officer's Answer
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- It is the largest automated (tenprint) fingerprint database in the world and contains fingerprints of over 50 million criminals.
- It cost over a billion dollars (over multiple decades) to build and is the backbone of America's criminal history repository.
- NGI latent print software is free to all agencies and can be run from almost any existing desktop or laptop computer.
- The FBI provides free NGI (ULW) software training to fingerprint experts during IAI Annual Educational Conferences and in other venues upon request.
- Some states do NOT provide access for local agencies to submit searches through state law enforcement's connection to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) wide area network (WAN) .
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Why
do only some crime labs search unsolved case fingerprints in the FBI's
national fingerprint file (NGI)?
Police administrators and laboratory managers operate within budgets. Money constraints cause tough decisions about distributing resources between patrol units, investigators and forensic scientists. Facts about the FBI's national fingerprint database, called Next Generation Identification (NGI) and formerly known as the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS):
Small Agency
Stand-Alone Configuration - $60,000 to $160,000 Small Agency
Network Configuration - $50,000 to $160,000 Large City Crime
Lab Stand-Alone Configuration - $380,000 to $2,630,000 FREE - FBI Software
for Agencies or Crime Labs with Expert Latent Print Examiner but no
dollars for AFIS In the post-911 era, the entire criminal justice
system should utilize existing national resources such as NGI.
Standards, best practices and guidelines (from the FBI and OSAC) need to be followed insofar
as possible. Elem. Student Answer
Police Officer's Answer
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 The
Universal Latent Workstation is the first in a new
generation of interoperable latent workstations. Several state and
local agencies, the FBI, NIST, and the AFIS vendors have been working
together on standards to improve interoperability and sharing of latent
identification services. The ULW is part of that program. It helps
agencies and AFIS vendors understand and develop the concept of encode
once and search anywhere. With the ULW you can create a native feature
set for Printrak, Cogent, Morpho, NEC and IAFIS. Ultimately,
standards-based workstations, such as the ULW, will provide you with
the ability to search local, state, neighboring and the FBI NGI system,
all with a single encoding workstation.
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Why
do only some crime labs search unsolved case fingerprints in the FBI's
national fingerprint file (NGI)?
In addition to the John Q. Public answers here, you should know that there is NO GOOD REASON for the fingerprint experts supporting your agency to refrain from searching the FBI's national criminal fingerprint database. If they will search all unsolved serious cases through IAFIS, they can expect to identify at least ten percent (and probably more) of the latent prints searched. Do not take no for an answer in requiring that they begin using IAFIS.
John Q. Public's Answer
Elem. Student Answer
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Why
do only some crime labs search unsolved case fingerprints in the FBI's
national fingerprint file (NGI)?
Sometimes it is out of ignorance. Sometimes the pride of an under-funded agency means they would rather do a shabby job with fingerprint evidence and let cases go unsolved... than turn over evidence to another agency with modern methods and connectivity which could make them look bad. If you are in one
of those jurisdictions, stay put and hope the community
doesn't wise-up and replace status quo police services with
knowledgeable professionals. |
| What is the difference between
fingerprint biometrics and automated fingerprint identification systems
(AFIS)?
Q6
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Who are you?
Click on the correct category to see the best answer:
Elementary School StudentJohn Q. PublicPolice OfficerCriminal |
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What is the difference
between fingerprint biometrics and automated fingerprint identification
systems (AFIS)?
Biometric fingerprint systems are designed to identify
persons who want to be identified. AFIS is designed to identify persons who are trying to
hide their identity. John Q. Public's
Answer
Police
Officer's Answer |
|
What is the difference
between fingerprint biometrics and automated fingerprint identification
systems (AFIS)?
Biometrics is a wide-ranging topic encompassing much
more than just fingerprints (iris, face, voice, hand geometry, etc.),
including some applications that are so novel they have never been
tested in court for admissibility as a method for reliable
identification. This FAQ addresses biometric fingerprint
applications. Biometric fingerprint systems are designed to identify
persons who want to be identified. AFIS is nearly the
opposite... it is designed to protect society by detecting criminals
who do not want their fingerprints recognized. Biometric systems are normally a business
process. Such systems save companies money because it is
expensive to keep reissuing lost passwords or PIN numbers.
Also, biometrics offer improved security compared to the post-it notes
bearing passwords often found in work cubicles or the ease of spotting
someone's PIN number as they enter it into a keypad. The most
secure fingerprint biometric systems use more than just a fingerprint,
such as also a PIN and a card or token. Some systems use
multiple biometrics such as iris and fingerprint. Biometric fingerprint systems compare the finger or
fingers of a person against records in a computer or on a chip, to see
if the person may be granted permission to do something such as access
a computer or enter a room. The process does not use all the
information in a fingerprint that is used by forensic scientists
identifying a fingerprint. It is more like a possible,
"close-enough correlation" of similarities. The expertise required for identification of
single-print searches is a completely different caliber from what is
required for law enforcement AFIS "ten rolled fingerprint"
searches. Fingerprint Examiners (called Fingerprint Clerks
before the job title changed) at the FBI's huge fingerprint processing
center in Clarksburg, WV are not qualified to render opinions on latent
print-like single print comparisons from biometric systems.
Those single-print exams are made by Latent Print Examiners such as
those working in the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, VA.
Elem. Student
Answer
Police
Officer's Answer |
|
What is the difference
between fingerprint biometrics and automated fingerprint identification
systems (AFIS)?
In addition to John Q. Public's answer here, you should be aware that
biometric systems normally do not capture fingerprint information in a
manner consistent with law enforcement fingerprint standards (i.e.,
ANSI/NIST, FBI EFTS, Interpol). After 9-11, agencies like the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (now part of the Department of Homeland Security
or DHS) immediately began beefing-up biometric systems used at borders
to fill the gaps between that technology and law enforcement
AFIS. DHS employs well-qualified forensic fingerprint experts
(Latent Print Examiners) who effect identifications impossible using
only "lights-out" biometric technology. However, some other agencies without law enforcement
fingerprint experience or expertise (those agencies who failed to
research standards always prominently posted by organizations such as OSAC and Interpol) may have been fooled by
biometric vendors into thinking that they were adopting electronic
fingerprint systems that were as accurate and robust at detecting
terrorists via fingerprints as law enforcement AFIS. Some
activities have captured tens of thousands of persons' fingerprints in
nonstandard formats presenting tremendous problems for vetting against
law enforcement AFIS collections of known and suspected terrorists and
other criminals. A large federal laboratory like the FBI or Army Crime
Laboratory may only search somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 to
250,000 (these are estimates) single fingerprints per year against the
FBI's national AFIS (NGI). Thus, searching a collection of
tens of thousands of nonstandard fingerprint records as latent print
searches is a monumental task. Because nonstandard biometric systems cannot accept
law enforcement standard rolled fingerprint records, the internal
comparisons in such systems are often not very meaningful insofar as
detecting persons on law enforcement/terrorism watch lists.
The most wanted terrorist in the world could register in the system
easily just by giving a false name. He is then known in that
system under the false identity. He is free to plan attacks
on the facility using information learned while he was permitted
inside. Isolated biometric systems incapable of interfacing
with law enforcement AFIS give a false sense of security insofar as
vetting against the thousands of known and suspected terrorists'
fingerprints the US government has on file in law enforcement AFIS
networks. John Q. Public's
Answer
Elem.
Student Answer |
|
What is the difference
between fingerprint biometrics and automated fingerprint identification
systems (AFIS)?
Biometrics is the system you will use in prison so you can get back in from the exercise yard or go to the cafeteria. AFIS is the system which helps put you in
prison. |
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