Police Academy and Finger Printing - Term Paper Example

Paper Outline: Finger Printing in Law Enforcement I. Introduction A. Define finger printing B. Why is fingerprint important C. Thesis ment II. What is a Finger Print A. Fingerprint definition B. Friction Ridges Defined III. History of Fingerprints A. How Fingerprinting was used throughout history B. Development of modern understanding of finger printing C. Emergence of finger printing in law enforcement D. Types of Finger Prints E. Finger Print Patterns F. Modern Use of Finger Prints IV. Benefits and Limitations of Finger Printing A. Criticisms (Human error, etc.) B. Benefits (Simple, cost effective, etc.) C. Implications for Law Enforcement V. Five Year Outlook A. National automated finger print systems (IAFIS) B. New Technologies C. New Legalities VI. Conclusion A. Thesis Statement B. Concluding Statement A. Finger Printing in Law Enforcement Fingerprints can be used as a means of identifying individuals, because each individual’s fingerprints are unique. Like many natural structures, no two are alike. Because of this phenomenon, finger printing has become an important staple of forensic science used by law enforcement. The twentieth century was responsible for many improvements in law enforcement, including the refinement and large scale implementation of finger printing as a tool commonly used at the state, local, and national levels. In order to understand how fingerprinting has impacted the practice of law enforcement, the history of the technique, legal and ethical issues involving the use of the technique, practical implications of the technique for law enforcement personal at various levels, and future prospects for fingerprinting must be analyzed. Finger prints have had many definitions throughout history, and have been used in art, science, and law enforcement. The contemporary definition of a fingerprint states that a finger print can be defined as the unique pattern created by the friction ridges on all or part of a digit, or finger (“Glossary”, 2009). The term friction ridge is not intuitive. Friction ridges rare the scientific name for the raised portion of the outermost layer of skin, called the epidermis, that forms the unique shapes found in fingerprints (“Glossary”, 2009). Friction ridges form on the fingers, palm, toes, and soles of the feet of the fetus before it is born (Cowger, 1992, p.1). Despite the growth that occurs in childhood and adolescence, the patter of the friction ridges does not change, and thus provides the only physical characteristic of human kind with the specificity to identify an individual. Human beings first noticed fingerprints in prehistoric times. The earliest fingerprints are included as decorative elements in cave paintings found in Nova Scotia that date back thousands of years (German, 2006). In ancient Babylon, merchants recognized that though many people have similar patterns, no two individuals have the same exact fingerprint. These merchants used fingerprints as official seals on business agreements, much as contemporary merchants would use a Federal Identification or Social Security number (German, 2006). Similar methods of using fingerprints to identify merchants and government officials were found in fourteenth century Persia and China (German, 2006). These cultures made use of the impressions left by fingerprints as a tool for identification on documents, but did little to categorize the types of fingerprints or analyze the science behind them. A major breakthrough in fingerprinting was made when scientists began to apply principles of anatomy and physics to understanding the patterns made by fingerprints. These scientists noticed that the friction ridges that make up fingerprints were not random series of parallel lines, but instead they were organized patterns with distinct endings and bifurcations, where one line divides into multiple lines. In 1893, John Evangelist Purkinje, a scientist at the University of Breslau performed simple experiments that demonstrates that fingerprints occur in a variety of patterns, and can be classified as such (German, 2010). Many of the friction ridges are large, but others are so small as to appear merely as dots to observation by the naked eye (Cowger, 1992, p.2). The combination of all the patterns of friction ridges makes up what is recognizable as a finger print. Finger printing was first used in law enforcement in the late nineteenth century, but didn’t become a common practice until the first part of the twentieth century. The first case to be solved decisively using finger print evidence was the 1892, when investigator Juan Vucetich identified Francis Rojas as the murderer of her two sons before her own suicide using bloody imprints of her fingerprints left at the scene (German, 2010). This high profile case made many law enforcement agencies aware of how finger printing could be used and led to the widespread adoption of Sir Francis Gault’s book Fingerprints as a method for interpreting the characteristics of fingerprints (German 2010). Many of the principles in Gault’s book are still applicable to modern finger printing. The three main types of fingerprint are visible prints, latent prints, and impressed prints. Visible prints, also sometimes called patent prints, are those that may be seen with the naked eye. They generally results from some contaminant on the hands, such as blood, ink, grease, or other pigmented fluids. Visible finger prints are the most easy to locate and identify. Because the body’s sebaceous glands are always releasing oils, sweat, amino acids, and other compounds onto the skins surface, fingerprints may also appear in these compounds, which are not easily observed by the naked eye. There are a number of chemical compounds and dusting procedures that can reveal these invisible prints. Impressed prints generally occur when a finger is impressed on a soft or viscous surface, such as clay or wax, and these prints may generally be seen with the naked eye without further development (Cowger, 1992). Investigators must be careful to observe finger prints, even when these prints are not visible to the naked eye. Fingerprints are classified by the basic shapes that their pattern forms. The plain arch is the simplest, with ridges flowing from one side to the other with a shallow slope. The tented arch is more steep, and is in between the plain arch and the true loop. Loops are generally slanted to the left or to the right. Whorls are the most complex patterns, containing two or more looping elements. Whorls are further classified by the number of included loop-like shapes, referred to as delta shapes (Cowger, 1992). These are the basic forms of fingerprints; however, nearly a century of study has resulted in many distinctions in the analysis of fingerprints. In 1901, the finger print division of the Scotland Yard was opened, and soon afterward in 1903, the New York State Prison started the first implementation of criminal fingerprinting. Over the following decades, the technique of finger printing became widely accepted, and by the 1970s both the United States and the United Kingdom had developed organized and searchable collections of criminal fingerprints used by law enforcement on a national level. In 2005, the automated finger print system developed by Interpol exceeded 50,000 finger prints in its database, with sources from over 184 different countries. In 2010 it was reported the the department of Homeland Security had two-finger finger print records from over 100 million individuals in their collection, making it one of the largest forensic collections of finger print data worldwide (German 2010). During the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, electronic data-basing has provided a means to make large numbers of finger print records easily searchable for law enforcement personnel. Despite the widespread use of finger printing in forensics, the technique still has its limitations. Many critics criticize the human element involved, as fingerprints are visually collected and analyzed, leaving room for human error. Additionally, finger prints can be illegible or distorted if the finger is rolled while making the print, too much or too little ink is used, or if cuts or blisters are present on the fingers (“Finger Printing Criticism”, 2010). Despite these criticisms, fingerprinting has numerous benefits that make it practical for use as a means of personal identification. The process is both quick and inexpensive, requiring little training for law enforcement personnel. Many studies have additionally shown that fingerprinting, particularly when analyzed through computer data-basing software, is reliable and accurate, with few cases of error (“Finger Printing Criticism”, 2010). Though finger printing has its critics, it remains the most widespread tool for personal identification, and one of the easiest to implement. Cooperation between law enforcement at the local, state, and national levels is required to make the most of modern finger printing technology, including access to large and comprehensive databases of finger prints. On the national level, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that part of its mission is “to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners” (“Law Enforcement Services”, 2010). The FBI maintains the largest biometrics system in the world, called the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). IAFIS contains over 66 million criminal finger prints and 25 million civil finger prints, with 73,000 finger prints from known terrorists. Before the establishment of this system in 1999, matching finger prints was labor-intensive job, which mean that many cases did not receive priority (“Law Enforcement Services”, 2010). Automation has greatly improved the implementation of finger printing as a tool for law enforcement. With the new automated system, up to 162,000 ten-print submissions are able to be processed in a single twenty-four hour period. Most criminal searched take only ten minutes, while civil submissions. The average response time for an electronic criminal fingerprint submission is about 10 minutes, while electronic civil vary, taking roughly an hour and twelve minutes. The FBI provides access to other qualified law enforcement agencies to these databases (“Law Enforcement Services”, 2010). As technology improves the way in which finger prints are analyzed, cooperation between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies becomes increasingly crucial to ensuring access to comprehensive finger print analysis systems. In the future of finger printing, new technologies will improve the method that finger prints are taken, making the technique more accurate and free of error. Most people are familiar with the concept of taking finger prints by rolling a finger in ink. As mentioned above, this opens the door for human error, as distorted prints may not be of any use in criminal or civil identifications. New technology allows law enforcement personnel to collect finger prints using a lighted glass panel, a process which takes under ten minutes and instantly gives feedback on whether the print shows evidence of distortion (“Lights And Stripes”, 2007). The equipment used to perform these finger prints is called Live Scan Equipment, which has dropped into reasonable price ranges over the last two decades. Some critics argue that the glass used in this equipment allows for some distortion over traditional prints; however, the overall quality of prints is much better and it is achieved at a lower cost. In order for these systems to be implemented in most law enforcement agencies, a number of legalities must be overcome (“Lights And Stripes”, 2007). Over the next five years, a priority action will be reducing search times in massive national and even global finger print databases and installing digital Live Scan Equipment. This will provide a means for law enforcement to instantly capture finger print data and compare it to these databases with minimal wait times and utmost accuracy. Finger printing is a technique that has been used for many years; however, modern technology has improved the efficiency and usability of the technique for law enforcement agencies worldwide. The history of the method is important in understanding the future outlook of the technique as digital equipment and powerful online databases become available. In the next five years, a dramatic improvement in the usability of finger print data on a global scale will be seen, as computing power is made available to investigators. While finger printing still has is limitations, its benefits are in its cost effective implementation and excellent reliability, particularly when coupled with computer based analysis that eliminates the factor of human error. References “Peer Reviewed Glossary”. (2009). SWGFAST: Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study, and Technology. Retrieved from http://www.swgfast.org/documents/glossary/090508_Glossary_2.0.pdf German, Ed. (2010). “The History of Fingerprints.” Retrieved from http://onin.com/fp/fphistory.html Cowger, James. (1992). Friction Ridge Skin: Comparison and identification of fingerprints. New York: CRC Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=R17PyOayF6kC&dq=cause+of+friction+ridges&source=gbs_navlinks_s “Finger Printing Criticism.” (2010). Finger Printing Homepage. Retrieved from http://www.fingerprinting.com/fingerprinting-criticism.php “Law Enforcement Services.” (2010). Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/lawenforce.htm “Lights And Stripes, And The Future Of Fingerprinting.” (2007). Phototronics Online. Retrieved from http://www.photonicsonline.com/article.mvc/Lights-And-Stripes-And-The-Future-Of-Fingerpr-0002 Read More