Identifying Criminals.

Manawatu Herald, 28 February 1903, Page 2

Identifying Criminals.

TO BE INSTALLED IN NEW ZEALAND. For many years paatexpertsinall parts of the world have been convinced of the necessity of anim--provement in the method of iden*. ttfying criminals. At present photograph assisted by description is the system employed, but that in many important cases is found to be quite inadequate an unsatisfactory, and in several instances has led to serious injustices being inflicted on innocent persons, The system that has gained most favour among experts is known as the finger-print system, which has just been installed in the prisons department of New South Wales, and is, we understand, about to be brought into operation in New Zealand. It is based on the well-known fact that the finger prints of no two persons are exactly alike. All that is necessary for carrying it out is a. piece Of tin, some printers’ ink, and some paper. * The ink is spread over the tin, the criminal. pressesthe thumb and fingers of each hand in turn upon the tin and then on the paper. Those impressions are carefully preserved) and from them the criminal can be at once identified, and his record turned up should he be again arrested. AIL- that is necessary is to take another impression of ms finger prints and. compare it with the one in the Hands of the prison authorities. In view iof the fact that enquiries are being made by the authorities for the instalation of the system in New Zealand, it is interesting to read what has already been done in connection with it in New South Wales. In the course of an article ,pn the aubj ect the Sydney Morning Herald says : Without an accurate method of classification the system would not be of much use, as the prison authorities whould have to look through some thousand of impressions to find the one they want. As a matter of fact they are able to lay their hands on any one in a few minutes. The classification bureau is at Darlinghurst, and over 1000 teats have been made without a single mistake. The time taken over each test does not exceed a few minutes.

In order to bring about * this effective classification the peculiarities of the impressions are given ft numerical value. For. primary., classification “whirls” and “loops" are first considered. It will be found that every impression contain* either “ whirls” or • “ loops." Theformer are successful circles around the centre of the impression; the latter are lines running from th£" base of the impression towards the centre and back again. “ Loops.” are not given a numerical value, but “ whirls on the right thumb count as 16, on the right forefinger as 8, on the right middle finger as 4, on the right ring finger as 2, and: thes right little as 1. For the left hand the impressions begin with the little finger and end with the thumb, and the values from 16 to-1 are therefore reversed. The total of the right band impressions count as the numerator, and the left-hand total as the denominator. Suppose the finger impression of a criminal to show “ whirls ” on the right * thumb and the left forefinger ohly ) ; his, classification number would he 16-2, That means that in the cabinet at the. bureau at Darlinghurst hi* record will be found in the sixteenth pigeon-hole of the second row. Certain minor factors are taken into consideration in carrying put the classification, but these need not be touched upon. Any one familiar with arithmetio will understand what infinite gradations the system is capable of by extension. It in. conceivable that these could bo carried out to such an extent that the classification number of no two criminals would be the same unless the finger impression of all their; fingers and thumbs were exactly similar. The loeal bureau includes 1024 classifications, which may be considered sufficient for this State for some years to come The number of prisoners incarcerated in our gaols is now only 1840.—-Post.