I would like to thanks SIFS INDIA for providing us a platform to learn new techniques in the field of fingerprint examination through online learning platforms. One should definitely join SIFS INDIA as they are really taking great initiatives in making people aware of what forensics is and helping us to get better in the different aspects of forensic science.
Fingerprint Science is one of the very primitive disciplines, which has been used by human civilization since ages. This discipline is considered very reliable and accurate due to the principles of individuality, uniqueness, and permanence, which are the factors on which this entire science rests. Now one may ponder on the fact that why is fingerprint said to be individual, unique, and permanent in nature? The fingerprints are known to be individual because, since the day, no two individuals have been spotted bearing alike fingerprints. They are even said to be unique because the minutiae or the ridges and their positions are unique to every single human being. Lastly, they are considered permanent because- during the fetal development, the ridges and the minutiae start developing at the third month and gets finished by the sixth month, and remains the same for the entire life.
Fingerprints possess certain calculable characteristics which on consideration and examination, help the examiner reach a conclusion. On the basis of Locard’s exchange principle, fingerprints are one of the invisible and prominent clues that are left behind by the perpetrator or the criminal accidentally at a scene of crime. That’s why it is the prime duty of the investigator conducting the investigation to check and apply the technical skills in order to reveal what actually remains hidden.
Fingerprint impressions have often been and still are considered one of the most valuable types of physical evidence to aid a crime scene investigation. A comprehensive discussion of fingerprint history, development, classification, and their use in identification is the core content of this course. In general, three types of fingerprint are found at a crime scene i.e. latent fingerprints which generally suggests invisible prints, patent fingerprints or visible prints and plastic prints, those which are found on surfaces as soap, wax, etc. Latent prints are commonly found at the crime scene and thus require certain means for the development or enhancement in order to get visualized.
A transitory discussion will be on other impressions like footprints, palm-prints, skid-marks, and their developing methods with different types of tools and techniques. Recording and preservation of marks and its admissibility in the court-room will also be a major concern of the given course structure
Fingerprints are majorly one of the most vital factors in crime deciphering because they may be the only means of ascertaining the people present at a crime scene or involved in a crime. Thus, offering one of the most apposite and acceptable methods of establishing one’s identification. This is the only cause why it is also universally used and recognized for the purpose of visa/ immigration services, identifying missing persons, etc.
