Fingerprint
Fingerprint identification is a well-established science, which
investigators attempt to use at virtually every type of crime scene.
Although it can be quite difficult to find fingerprints at a bomb
scene, they do sometimes turn up.
Fingerprints can be left on a wide range of surfaces:
- skin
- glass
- wood
- metal
- plastic
- any type of paper
to name just a few. A fingerprint is "lifted" using a variety of
chemicals, depending on the surface. Although fingerprinting is now
a regular part of crime scene investigation, it has only been in use
in this country for about a century. A British surgeon named Henry
Faulds noted, in a letter to the British journal Nature, that
since fingerprints were readily found on clay, glass and other
surfaces, they might be used to identify criminals some day. That
was in 1880. It was over a decade before fingerprints were used in
England for identification purposes, and not until 1903 that the New
York City Police department began fingerprinting every person
arrested.
Examining other physical evidence:
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