

Access and authentication for digital devices.Law enforcement and criminal investigation agencies.Applications of fingerprints in daily life.This article will explore different types of fingerprints, their structure, and how they vary from each other. This is because fingerprints are the key elements in solving crime cases. However, the major usage of fingerprints lies with criminal investigation authorities and law enforcement agencies. Many institutions like hospitals and banks use fingerprint recognition for security purposes. This is precisely how criminal investigators are able to collect fingerprints from the crime scenes.įrom biometric identification to criminal investigation, fingerprints are used for a variety of purposes. Have you ever wondered how such a teeny tiny fingerprint pattern gets transferred to other surfaces? Well, this is because each ridge has sweat glands that produce sweat, and as a result, your fingerprint ridges are transferred to the surfaces you touch. Injuries like burns or cuts also have no effect on the ridge structure of fingerprints. Even though they might diminish a little when an individual grows old, they do not change or alter with age. This is what makes their fingerprints unique. Fingerprints are the result of little friction ridges that are present on the end of an individual’s fingers, thumbs, and toes and are arranged in a pattern of spirals and loops.Įvery individual has a different number, shape, location, and overall structure of their ridges. The answer lies in the patterns of fingerprints. We often wonder how criminal authorities use fingerprints to identify murderers and what lies beneath fingerprint identification. The fact that no two fingerprints are alike, not even in the case of twins, often leaves many people amazed. Follow this article to explore different types of fingerprints and how they are used for evidence and identification purposes. A loop pattern always comprises one delta, which is roughly a triangular formation in the pattern.Although every human being has a different fingerprint, it might interest you to learn that there are specific patterns that fingerprints display. They originate from one side of the finger, curve around or upward, before exiting out the other side. There are basically three main forms of patterns that are made by the ridges of fingerprints.ġ) Loops: Loops make up almost 70 percent of fingerprint patterns. The following are some of the commonly used fingerprint patterns that have been identified and used in the process of fingerprinting. They are unique to each individual, and can be differentiated and identified based on certain distinctive patterns made by the ridges. Fingerprint PatternsĪ person’s weight, eye color, and hair color can change or be changed, but his fingerprints cannot be altered. This technology has even made the task of criminal identification much more efficient. The affordable, yet reliable digital fingerprinting and biometric devices of today are widely used in a number of small and large organizations for identifying their employees. With the advent of the digital age, the use of fingerprinting has substantially increased. These files became more and more important with the emergence of an increasing number of intellectual criminals, who crossed all legal and state lines. The Federal Bureau of Investigation established its first fingerprint identification division in the year 1924, with a collection of 810,188 fingerprint files, taken mostly from the Leavenworth Penitentiary. FingerprintingĪlthough most of us today are aware of the basic fact that each and every individual possesses a unique set of ridges on the hands and fingers, using them to identify people was not really accepted or even fully understood until the early 1900s. In the following sections, we shall first go through a few facts regarding fingerprinting, and then study some of the common fingerprint patterns that are utilized in this process.

One of the most useful and tried and tested method from among these is fingerprint based identification. Thankfully nowadays, we have much less painful and much more humane methods at our disposal. In the days gone by, many civilizations would use tattooing, branding, and even maiming as means of identifying people, especially the criminals. It is estimated that the chances of one person’s fingerprints matching up exactly with someone else’s is only about one in 64 billion.
