FRSC 1011H Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Alphonse Bertillon
7 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Fingerprinting
History
● The first systematic attempt at personal identification was devised by a french
police expert, Alphonse Bertillon.
● The bertillon system relied on a detailed description of the subject, combined with
full length and profile photographs and a system of precise body measurements
called anthropometry
● In 1892 Francis Galton published his classic textbook Fingerprints
Finger Principles
● Fingerprints are a reproduction of friction skin ridges found on the palm side of
the fingers and thumbs
● The basic principles underlying the use of fingerprints in criminal investigations
are that:
○ A fingerprint is an individual characteristics because no two fingers have
yet been found to possess identical ridge characteristics
○ A fingerprint will remain unchanged during an individual’s lifetime
○ Fingerprints have general ridge patterns that permit them to be
systematically classified
Individual Characteristic
● The individuality of a fingerprint is not determined by its general shape or pattern,
but by the careful study of its ridge characteristics, known as minutiae
● There are as many as 150 minutiae on the average finger
Fingerprints can be systematically classified
● Loops
○ 60-65% of the population
● Whorls
○ 30-35% of the population
● Arches
○ 5% of the population
Types of Fingerprints
● Exemplar: deliberately taken
● Patent: visible prints as a result of foreign transfer material
● Plastic: found on soft surfaces that retains shape (impressions)
● Latent: not visible
Document Summary
The first systematic attempt at personal identification was devised by a french police expert, alphonse bertillon. The bertillon system relied on a detailed description of the subject, combined with full length and profile photographs and a system of precise body measurements called anthropometry. In 1892 francis galton published his classic textbook fingerprints. Fingerprints are a reproduction of friction skin ridges found on the palm side of the fingers and thumbs. The basic principles underlying the use of fingerprints in criminal investigations are that: A fingerprint is an individual characteristics because no two fingers have yet been found to possess identical ridge characteristics. A fingerprint will remain unchanged during an individual"s lifetime. Fingerprints have general ridge patterns that permit them to be systematically classified. The individuality of a fingerprint is not determined by its general shape or pattern, but by the careful study of its ridge characteristics, known as minutiae. There are as many as 150 minutiae on the average finger.
