Partial or fregmented fingerprints

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Register | Edit Profile

Author Message   rl Posted on Thursday, March 03, 2005 - 12:07 am:        is it possible to identify a person by a partial thumb print   Steve Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2004 - 03:46 pm:        Veronica, Essentially all latent prints can be considered partial or fragmented. The American Heritage Dictionary (via dictionary.com) defines "partial" as: \Par"tial, a. [F., fr. LL. partials, fr. L. pars, gen. partis, a part; cf. (for sense 1) F. partiel. See Part, n.] 1. Of, pertaining to, or affecting, a part only; not general or universal; not total or entire; as, a partial eclipse of the moon. Unless a latent print comprised all of the friction ridge detail, it would have to be considered partial. So the answer to your question is yes, based on the idea that most all latents are only going to contain part of the friction ridge detail. Beyond that, positive identifications (individualizations) can be made from areas of friction ridge skin smaller than the area of a hole punch.   Veronica Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2004 - 01:24 pm:        I would like to know if it posible to get a positive- accurate fingerprint id from a partial or fragmented fingerprint.