Criminalistics 101: Fingerprints Traditional Geocache
Bonick0: Time to say goodbye.
Criminalistics 101: Fingerprints
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Welcome to the world of Forensic Science. Today you will learn
about fingerprint analysis and its place in crime scene
investigation.
Fingerprints are unique, do not change over the person’s lifetime,
and can be systematically classified. The current classification
system is based on the Henry system created in 1897. The
fingerprints are divided into three categories based on the overall
pattern: loops, whorls, and arches. Loops (60% of population) have
a major ridge entering and leaving the print on the same side.
Whorls (35% of population) have ridges that form complete circles
near the center of the print. Arches (5% of population) have a
major ridge that enters on one side but leaves on the opposite side
of the print.
The fingerprints are further analyzed to determine minute
characteristics. These include such patterns as islands, ridge
bifurcations, dots, and bridges. There is no established number of
match points between the unknown and reference prints. That
decision varies between jurisdictions, laboratories, and individual
examiners. The Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS)
speeds up the analysis by digitally encoding the prints and
comparing them to databases. Even though this is a highly
sophisticated system, the final word belongs to the fingerprint
examiners.
This cache is part of the
CSI Puzzle.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
"_, _, _ sbe gur ubzr grnz"