Fingerprints

At Manlove Forensics we have a highly experienced team of forensic scientists working on fingerprint identification, comparison and enhancement.

Probably the oldest of the forensic disciplines, fingerprints are still the only unique means of human identification in that the fingerprint detail required to identify crime scene marks could be from one person only and can be no one else. Members of the same family, even identical twins have different fingerprint detail.

At Manlove Forensics our fingerprint service is comprehensive offering you a range of service levels from scene to laboratory and review. Our experts have been asked to undertake reviews for the Criminal Cases Review Commission, in the Court of Appeal and many Crown and Magistrates' Court cases.

We provide a service unique to the independent provider in the enhancement and interpretation of fingerprints in blood. This challenging area is fraught with difficulties; our experts have many years of experience in interpreting such evidence and are fully aware of the dangers of over-interpretation.

We routinely compare and review the work of others, and take the case as a whole; if required we will assess the position of the fingerprint and its orientation, so as to give a full interpretation of how the fingerprint was placed down. We can take reference fingerprints from people with which you wish us to compare any marks we find or are reviewing and will offer you our opinion in a clear, concise report.

If you require items or exhibits to be examined for fingerprints, we offer an extensive range of both specialised light and chemical treatments to recover this evidence type using one of our highly skilled photographers. 

A little more about fingerprints

On the fingers, toes, palms and the soles of the feet are minute ridges of skin. These ridges of skin are formed within the womb at approximately 12 weeks of gestation and apart from damage by environmental factors, do not alter for the entirety of your life. There is some debate as to the purpose of these ridges with support for the presence of fingerprints leading to an increase in grip and/or enhancing the sensitivity for the perception of texture.

As there are sweat glands within the ridges, an impression of these secretions can be left as a fingerprint on a surface (latent marks). Such marks are usually comprised of a mixture of water-soluble and fat-soluble compounds. As the fingerprint is made up of compounds from the body, their chemical composition can reveal, for example, that someone is a smoker, or drug user. It is often necessary to use specialised light or chemical enhancement  on fingerprints so that all available parts of the mark can be seen. Different wavelengths of light and specialised chemicals are used to enhance the different compounds within the fingerprint.

Fingerprints can also be left (patent marks) if there is a contaminant such as ink, blood or paint for example on the finger before it makes contact with a surface. One further way of leaving a fingerprint is to make an impression into a surface - such as grease or blood.

The overall nature of a person's fingerprint can be described as loops, whorls or arches, describing the overall appearance of the ridges when taken together. On a smaller scale the ridges themselves form the next level of detail within the fingerprint; they can terminate or can divide into two. These characteristics enable particular patterns to be formed that are termed ridge ending, bifurcation, short ridge, spur, dot, bridge, lake or delta. Furthermore, the sweat glands on the ridges themselves give an additional area for comparison should this be required.

It is the theory that fingerprints are unique to each person that enabled them to become one of the primary methods by which identifications of suspected offenders were made. Fingerprints have been used for many years to identify individuals, and, for example, have been known to confirm identity by the Chinese in the 3rd century.

There are numerous records demonstrating that fingerprints were used to verify identity for many centuries. More recently, in India during mid 19th century, Sir William Herschel took the fingerprints of pensioners as they collected their stipend, ensuring they could not return for a second, fraudulent payment. Towards the end of the 19th century, Henry Faulds suggested the use (unsuccessfully) of fingerprints to the Metropolitan Police using a method of ink-recording.

At the end of the 19th Century the Calcutta Fingerprint Bureau opened and began using fingerprints as part of criminal records. The classification system used was named after Sir Edward Henry although developed by his staff. In 1901 the first fingerprint bureau opened at Scotland Yard by Henry.

Fingerprints were traditionally recorded from an individual by coating their fingers with black ink and rolling them onto a card form. A record of the palm is also taken. This ensures that all available detail is recorded. Whilst this method is still the main way by which fingerprints are recorded, scanning machinery is more commonly being used and as technology improves, will supersede the ink-based method.

Databases of fingerprints are held on a card-based system using the ‘Tenprint' forms used to take inked fingerprints. In recent years each individual's ridge detail characteristics have also been loaded onto computer-based searchable databases. In the UK this was initially NAFIS (the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System) but this only held data from England and Wales. IDENT1 now combines data from England, Scotland and Wales allowing the search of some 6.5 million records against marks (including palm marks).

Tel: 0845 371 2486