Fingerprint forensics has a future despite new technology and the folly of humans
Fingerprints are like personal stories. Everyone's got a personal story. We like to think our story is unique. And most important: it's our version of events that is true. But what is true tends to be a matter of interpretation, and sometimes we humans get it wrong.
This goes for the story of fingerprinting, too.
Over the past few days German media has been awash with stories saying crime investigators used fingerprints to solve a murder for the first time 125 years ago. It's one version of events, all right. But it's not strictly true.
This is closer to the truth: Juan Vucetich was a fingerprint researcher and statistician. He became the head of the bureau of Anthropometric Identification at the Central Police Department in La Plata, Argentina, and in 1891, created a classification system and method to "individualize" prisoners using fingerprints. These are considered the first uses of fingerprint science by law enforcement.
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