Dactyloscopy

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fingerprint

The fingerprinting (from ancient Greek δάκτυλος daktylos , finger 'and σκοπιά Skopia , Ausschauen' Peeking ') deals with the ridges in the Handinnen- and Fußunterseiten. The biometric process of dactyloscopic proof of identity - also known as the fingerprint process - is based on it , which is based on the biological irregularity of human papillary ridges on the palm of the hand and the underside of the foot. It is used in criminology to identify people.

background

The papillary ridges form within the womb in the fourth embryonic month. The patterns formed by the papillary ridges remain unchanged until the body dissolves after death, but not pattern sizes and line spacing, which change over the course of life due to body growth and aging processes. The pattern is genetically determined, but is also influenced by environmental influences in the womb, for example pressure, nutrition and temperature. The latter is not clearly proven. Identical twins have fingerprints that may be similar but differ in small details called minutiae . These small differences can be enough to clearly identify a person, whereas monozygotic identical twins cannot be distinguished from one another in a DNA analysis or can only be distinguished from one another with great effort.

The nature, arrangement and course of the papillary ridges determine the individuality of the fingerprints. This leads to an identification of persons, unknown dead or unknown persons. The dactyloscopes (specially trained forensic technicians of the criminal police ), right up to the leading experts for dactyloscopy who have been examined by the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden , speak of arc patterns, loop patterns and swirl patterns. These are the basic patterns. If you take a closer look at a finger and look at the structure of the papillary ridges, you also see the anatomical features that allow a further and deeper specification from the basic pattern. Papillary ridges that suddenly end, those that branch or open, features such as eyes or islands, dodging end pieces, hooks or bifurcations in different directions or even only individual short lines. This is only a small selection from several firmly defined anatomical features that are available to forensic technicians in dactyloscopy worldwide and are absolutely identical in definition even without speech interference. These features are called "anatomical features" or "minutiae" (Latin for small things ). Poroscopy (pore progression images within the papillary ridges skin and their position as well as their distance to one another) and edgeoscopy (edge ​​progression of the papillary ridges) have so far been partially used in the Federal Republic of Germany , although the AG Kripo has yet to reconsider this detailed application.

The use of fingerprints in criminology is sometimes controversial . Since fingerprints are not directly used in any natural science ( biology , anthropology ), the use of fingerprints was monopolized by criminalistics early on . It is therefore justified to ask whether the comparison of fingerprints stands up to scientific criteria. In comparison to DNA profiles or trace analyzes with gas chromatography devices, where the probability of a false conclusion is known, there are only a few studies on the reliability of fingerprint comparisons (e.g. the frequency of a false-positive result). In addition, contrary to popular belief, fingerprints do change over the course of life.

Procedure

Since every person has their own skin ridge formation on the eight fingertips ( viewed proximally , the last phalanx), the two thumbs, the palms of the hands as well as the undersides of the feet and the undersides of the toes, it is possible that the affiliation of such an impression to a certain individual is legally established and without any doubt can be assigned.

While about 40 to 100 anatomical features can be recognizable on a complete fingerprint, dactyloscopes often have to be content with less anatomical features, because such "not consciously and voluntarily placed" fingerprints are often only available in partial areas (fragments).

The formula used to evaluate a fingerprint contains up to 1,000 characters and digits. Only about 40 pattern features are recorded , which is why iris recognition and face recognition are used more and more today. Injuries and sweat do not change the fingerprint, but cause identification problems and sometimes even make them impossible.

Fuse

Secure fingerprints as part of an identification service ( Rosa Parks , 1955)

Finding, making visible, in particular creating an optical contrast to the track carrier surface, and securing the track is necessary for track evaluation.

Depending on the nature of the surface, physical or chemical processes are used. Especially when searching outside of forensic laboratories , the use of forensic powders , which adhere to the substances on the fingerprint , is still common . However, they are increasingly being supplemented by other techniques. The standard in the laboratories of the German criminal police include the ninhydrin process and treatment with DFO (1,8-diaza-9-fluorenone) for paper as well as cyanoacrylate vapor deposition or high vacuum metal vapor deposition for so-called "non-absorbent" surfaces, i.e. surfaces, which do not allow diffusion into the depth of the trace carrier. Fingerprints can also be found with laser technology and are even made visible and secured in three dimensions.

history

The fingerprint process is the oldest of all biometric processes. As early as 1858, Sir William James Herschel (1833–1917), British colonial administrator in Bengal ( India ), had the idea of ​​distinguishing people using their fingerprints. From 1860 he registered payees in order to prevent identity fraud. He was thus able to effectively prevent pension fraud through multiple payments in the British colonial army. Despite his success in Bengal, he did not succeed in enforcing this system beyond India. He made an attempt to register newly admitted offenders in this way, but his proceedings were primarily aimed at administrative purposes. It is Herschel's credit for being the first to have a collection with which he was able to show that fingerprints do not change over time and can be used to identify people.

Around the same time, independently of Herschel, a Scotsman named Henry Faulds , who lived in Japan, came to the same conclusions after extensive studies of the human skin ridges. In 1880, he proposed using fingerprints at the crime scene to check criminals and dactyloscoping all ten fingers to take fingerprints. However, his efforts were unsuccessful.

It was seen as a major problem that a consistent and simple classification of the fingerprints obtained had not yet succeeded and therefore the practical use by police authorities in the identification service was viewed with skepticism. Without a classification system, finding a particular fingerprint from a collection of print sheets would require a comparison of an print obtained at the crime scene with all print sheets in a police collection. In contrast, the Bertillonage had the temporary advantage that it had a classification system that enabled the data sheet to be found within a few minutes, even for an extensive collection.

It was reserved for the Englishman Francis Galton (1822-1911) to develop the classification system of dactyloscopy, which is still mainly used today, and which paved the way for practical use as a means of identification by police authorities.

Edward Richard Henry

At the end of the 19th century, the British researcher Edward Richard Henry, together with two Indian assistants, classified the patterns and recorded them in the so-called "Henry system". This coding, so to speak the hand line alphabet, enables the experts to compare individual fingerprints.

Today, the AFIS ( Automated Fingerprint Identification System ) uses computers to create the geometric and topographical analysis of a fingerprint that was secured by the police and compares the result with the fingerprints stored in the archive. The matching hits in the database are then checked again manually by trained personnel in order to avoid errors.

After a double murder with the help of a fingerprint was solved for the first time in the world in La Plata ( Argentina ) in 1892 , the criminologist Ivan Vučetić (1858-1925) ensured the nationwide introduction of dactyloscopy in 1896 and founded the Bureau for Statistics and Identification in La Plata. Argentina was the first country on earth to introduce dactyloscopy as an identification system.

The introduction of dactyloscopy in Europe, however, was not without controversy, as Bertillonage had been introduced in many European countries from the mid-1880s. However, the success of dactyloscopy was unstoppable and the process was introduced in Great Britain in 1901. In France it replaced the Bertillonage in 1914 after the weaknesses of the system had become apparent in the case of Vincenzo Peruggia , among others . When the Mona Lisa was stolen, he had left his fingerprints at the scene of the crime, but despite being registered, they could not be found in file boxes sorted by body size. Dactyloscopy was introduced in Germany in 1903, first by Paul Koettig (1856–1933) at the Dresden Police Headquarters.

See also

literature

  • P. Voss-de Haan: On the trail of physics - forensic technology today . Wiley-VCH, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-527-40516-X .
  • Udo Amerkamp: Special methods of securing evidence - method for making dactyloscopic traces visible - , 158 pages, Frankfurt am Main, Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, 2002, ISBN 3-935979-02-9

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Gemoll : Greek-German school and hand dictionary. Munich / Vienna 1965.
  2. ↑ Press release: The growth of young people's fingerprints is predictable , press release from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, accessed on September 22, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b Fingerprints are also slowly changing , 3sat nano , accessed on November 5, 2011.
  4. ↑ Patrick Imhasly: Spur under suspicion , NZZ am Sonntag, May 30, 2010.
  5. ↑ Max M. Houck (Ed.): Forensic Fingerprints, pp. 21, 50ff
  6. ↑ On the hunt for criminals with superglue . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of March 2, 2015. Accessed February 3, 2017.
  7. ↑ Matthias Schulze, Roy Harris: New laser technology reveals hidden fingerprints . In: Optik & Photonik 2009, 25 - 27, doi : 10.1002 / opph.201190003
  8. ↑ "Fingerprint scanner" in pvt. Police traffic technology. Trade journal for police and traffic management, technology and equipment 2017, 43, "Digital brush makes forensics faster" in Rhein-Zeitung from December 20, 2016 , patent for IR laser for 3D representation of fingerprints DE102014203918B4
  9. ↑ BDK Saxony awards the Paul Koettig Prize on the website of the State Association of Saxony of the Federation of German Criminal Investigators.

Web links

Wiktionary: Dactyloscopy  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations