1. Fingerprinting in the Digital Age
Catherine Myers
Independent Research
Advisor: Gary Hauptmann
Forensic Analyst
Baltimore County Crime Lab

2. What is a Fingerprint? Ridges and furrows developed by dermal papillae
Sebaceous gland
Ridges and furrows developed by dermal papillae
Skin secretions
Invisible deposits
Latent vs. patent
Eccrine sweat pore

3. History of Fingerprinting
Evidence of fingerprint use in ancient civilizations
Sir Edward Henry made first classification system
First fingerprint bureau in 1901
Loop
Whorl
Arch

4. Crossover
Core
Bifurcation
Ridge Ending
Island
Delta
Pore

5. Collecting Fingerprint Evidence
Method depends on surface in question
Porous v. nonporous
Light v. dark
Dusting
Fuming
Chemical development

6. Dusting Methods Powder: used on metal, glass and wood
Black or white
Fluorescent
Magnetic: used on more porous surfaces like paper

7. Cyanoacrylate Fuming Superglue placed in sealed container
Heated to approx. 120o
Fumes evaporate
Cyanoacrylate adheres to solid deposits of fingerprint
View under UV light or dye with colored stain

8. Ninhydrin Development
Used on paper
Paper is submersed in ninydrin, allowed to dry
Evidence is placed in a warm, humid environment
Ninhydrin reacts with amino acids in fingerprint residue to form Ruhemann’s purple

9. Fingerprints?

10. Digital Enhancement
Digital prints not as detailed as silver-developed prints
Adobe Photoshop
Color balance
Brightness
Contrast
“Dodging and Burning”

11. Evidence How to Ensure that Evidence is Admissible in Court
“If this is a digital image, has it been enhanced or is this the original capture with no changes to it? If it’s been enhanced, I want you to show me what you did and tell me what your training is. And did you go out of your area of expertise to do this? (McRoberts)”
Record of camera, lens, shutter speed, illumination, camera position, and distance and angle from an object
Audit trail to document changes made

12. More Safeguards Original photograph should be saved separately
Changes should be directly reproducible
Chain of custody should be documented and preserved

13. All photos obtained from www.google.com/images
Sources
All photos obtained from
Berry, John, and David A Stoney. "History and Development of Fingerprinting."Advances in Fingerprint Technology. Ed. Henry C Lee and R E Gaensslen. 2nd ed. N.p.: CRC Press,
Lee, Henry C, and R E Gaensslen. "Methods of Latent Fingerprint Development." Advances in Fingerprint Technology. 2nd ed. N.p.: CRC Press, McRoberts, Flynn, and Steve Mills. "Digitized Prints can Point Finger at the Innocent." Chicago Tribune 3 Jan Dec <
O'Connor, Tom. Fingerprints and Trace Evidence. 26 Dec North Carolina Wesleyan College. 14 Nov <
Prabahakar, Salir, and Anil Jain. "Fingerprint Identification." Biometrics Research. Michigan State University. 2 Nov <
Ramotowski, Robert S. "Composition of Latent Print Residue." Advances in Fingerprint Technology. Ed. Henry C Lee and R E Gaensslen. 2nd ed. N.p.: CRC Press, Reis, George. Digital Image Integrity Adobe. 19 Dec. 2006
<
Scientific Working Group on Imaging Technologies. Vers Feb Florida Division of the International Association for Indentification. 19 Dec <