Friction ridge analysis lecture including history of fingerprints, anthropometry and Bertillonage.

1. Everybody look at
your right index
finger
Friction ridge analysis

2. Batman Ballistics

4. By chemically removing your
fingerprints, you become
virtually undetectable.
A. True
B. False
C. You’ve been watching too
much “Without a Trace”

5. History of Fingerprints
● Ancient Babylon,
China, Persia
● 1686 - Malpighi
○ notes ridges, spirals,
and loops
● 1823 - Purkinje
○ names 9 patterns
● 1958 - Hershel
○ utilized a handprint
on a contract
○ criminal database
● 1880 - Faulds
○ published in Nature
declaring fingerprints
as means of personal
identification
● Bertillon
○ first scientific method
of identification
● 1890 - Galton
○ publishes first book on
fingerprints

6. History of Fingerprints
Faulds sends his
paper to Darwin
Darwin sends
Faulds’ paper to
Galton
Galton is credited
with proving
Faulds’ claims
Galton trained
under Vucetich
Vucetich made the
first criminal
fingerprint
identification in 1892
Faulds’ claims:
1. No two
fingerprints are
exactly the same
2. Fingerprints do not
change over the
course of a person’
s life

7. Rojas Murders

8. Anthropometry/Bertillionage
Defined: the study of human body
measurements to be used for classification and
measurement
● in the 19th and 20th
centuries, it was used to
classify criminals
● made famous by Alphonse
Bertillon
Biometrics: use of measurements of portions of complex patterns from the
human body to build a database that can be used to “verify” the “identity” of
persons within that database

9. it worked until it didn’t
Will West
William West

10. fingerprints

11. Fingerprints
Latent prints:
friction ridge impressions that
are not visible to the
unaided eye; consist of a
mixture of natural
secretions
(98-99% sweat, oil)
patent prints:
impressions of friction
ridges which are visible
to the unaided eye in
media such as oil, blood,
ink, or mud

12. Friction Ridges
● Swellings on the fingertips begin
at 6.5 weeks
● Shape of the volar pad and
resulting ridge patterns are due
to genetics, physical influences
and stresses in the womb
● At about 10-13 weeks, ridge
patterns begin to develop. Volar
pads begin to reduce in size until
their boundaries and the
surrounding skin merge

13. Friction Ridges
● The ridge arrangement on
every hand and foot of
every person is different
● What makes friction ridge
patterns useful?
○ Permanence and
Uniqueness

14. Anatomy of a scar

16. Can you alter your fingerprints?
in the 1930s, John
Dillinger put acid on
his fingertips but did
not destroy his
ridges completely.
in most cases, the
act of alteration
makes the prints
easier to identify by
adding cuts/scars
to the ridge
structure.

17. Friction Ridges
● definitively develop on
fetus pre-birth
● persistent during life
except for permanent
scarring
● details are unique and
never repeated
● overall patterns may
vary within limits allowing
for classification

18. Fingerprints
Classification System
inclusion exclusionCLASS
characteristics

19. Fingerprints
Identification: matching points of minutiae
INDIVIDUAL
characteristics
Minutiae: features
of the friction ridge
skin patterns on
fingertips that make
the overall pattern
individual

20. Points of minutiae
INDIVIDUAL
characteristics
Minutiae diagram:
a and b: Bifurcations
c: Enclosure
d and e: Ending ridges
f: Island
(Reprinted from Galton (1892))

21. Points of minutiae
INDIVIDUAL
characteristics

22. It is possible to recover a
print from the sticky side of
duct tape.
A. True
B. False
C. You’ve been watching too
much NCIS

23. Video: Developing latent fingerprints on the adhesive sides of tape

24. Fingerprint Processing
1. Visual
Examination or
Search
2. Enhancement
or
Visualization
3. Photography
4. Lifting or
collection of
object 5. Laboratory
analysis or
comparison

25. Chemical Enhancements for
Fingerprints
Cyanoacrylate
(that’s superglue)
● prints are fumed
with cyanoacrylate
● then powdered to
visualize

26. Chemical Enhancements for
Fingerprints
Ninhydrin
● sprayed on latent
prints
● heated to visualize

27. Which provides a macroscopic
perspective?
A. Alternate Light source
(ALS)
B. Magnifying glass

28. Which is a class
characteristic?
A. Bifurcation
B. Whorl

29. Which type of print is visible
without any additional
enhancement or aid?
A. latent
B. patent

30. Identification

31. Scientific Method
Identification depends on pattern matching points
of minutia
Analysis - evaluate Level 1, 2, & 3 minutiae
Comparison - determine agreement and
discrepancies
Evaluation - cyclical procedure of evaluation
Verification - 2nd examiner
ACE-V is the fingerprint discipline’s
scientific method

32. Fingerprints

33. skin
slippage

34. Recovery of prints from deceased victim

35. Recovery of prints from deceased victim

36. Levels of Detail
Level 1:
general ridge flow
and pattern
configuration
Level 2:
ridge endings,
bifurcations, dots,
and combinations
Level 3:
ridge detail
including pores
NOT sufficient for
individualization, can be
used for exclusion
sufficient for individualization

37. Fingerprints
Automated Fingerprint Identification System

38. AFIS
Operates by anchoring position of
fingerprint and searching database
using two types of ridges:
•Bifurcations
•Ridge endings
Database works by querying
prints to find ones with same
number of ridges in relative
positions
Most likely matches are displayed
for comparison by a fingerprint
examiner

39. Which is more individualizing?
A. ridge ending
B. loop

40. Identical twins have the
same fingerprints.
A. True
B. False

41. Do identical twins have the
same DNA?
A. Yes
B. No

42. Old 10 print card

43. revised 10 print card

44. NCIS Abby clip