History Of Fingerprinting

We can cut or color our hair, gain or lose weight, change our clothes or even change our names. But what doesn’t change is our fingerprints. The patterns that are visible on our fingertips when we’re born are the same patterns we have for our entire lives. And since no two of us have exactly the same fingerprints – not even identical twins – they are a very good way of identifying people.

Archaeologists have found evidence of people using fingerprints to “sign” or seal business transactions and government papers for thousands of years, but the modern science of collecting, classifying and comparing fingerprints began around 1880.

That’s when Dr. Henry Faulds, a British physician working in Japan, first published his research into fingerprints and suggested that they could be used for personal identification. Dr. Faulds also developed the traditional ink-based method of collecting fingerprints.

Sir Francis Galton, an anthropologist, quickly advanced the science by identifying and naming the main patterns found in fingerprints, such as loop, whorl and arch. By 1900, his friend Sir Edward Richard Henry, a British police official in India, had developed a system for classifying fingerprints that is still in use today.

Within the next few years, fingerprinting was adopted by police departments and governments worldwide as a way of positively identifying people. Today, fingerprints are used to help solve crimes, identify victims of crimes and natural disasters, keep guns out of the hands of criminals and enable employers to conduct thorough background checks on applicants for critical jobs from police officers and fire fighters to teachers and child care workers.

Although the science has stayed largely the same, the technology behind fingerprint collection has changed dramatically. At many Fieldprint locations, fingerprints are collected through Livescan technology, which uses an electronic scanner instead of the traditional ink and paper. Fingerprints can be stored, shared and analyzed digitally, making the entire process faster and more accurate.