Advances in Fingerprint Technology.pdf

and gathered around him a nucleus of “disciples” (not quite a dozen) who
caught his every word and duly spread the “gospel according to Henry” all
over the U.S. It is certainly no coincidence that the first U.S. police force to
adopt fingerprinting was in St. Louis.
The first American fingerprint lecturer was Mary K. Holland, one of
Ferrier’s students. Gradually the use of fingerprints spread all over the U.S.,
resulting in the first conviction based on fingerprint evidence taking place
in the state of Illinois in 1911.
The International Association for Identification (IAI) was formed in
1915, and, being a member, I was extremely proud to have assisted Martin
Leadbetter in organizing the Annual Educational Conference of this august body
in London in 1986. The IAI has been the backbone of fingerprint usage in the
U.S. for over 74 years, and its monthly journal, Identification News, has always
been vitally important because its contents cover all aspects of identification,
fingerprints being merely one of the disciplines discussed in its pages.
I have already rightly praised the Finger Print and Identification Magazine,
which started in July 1919; it always contained important articles on fundamental
aspects of fingerprints, but also included little extracurricular gems.
One of these had a tremendous influence on me! An article was written by
PJ Putter, a fingerprint officer in the South Africa Police, in which he reported
finding fingerprint-type ridge detail on obscure items, illustrating the article
with photographs of cactus and mushroom peelings. I had already obtained
a copy of Fingerprint, Palms and Soles by Cummins and Midlo, which had a
chapter entitled “Other Patternings in Nature” (the zebra is an excellent and
obvious example of their research into other areas where ridge detail is
present). I became obsessed with these revelations in American publications
of ridge detail on other items and in 1979 published the first edition of Ridge
Detail in Nature, which consisted of 12 pages. Whereas the total number of
examples of ridge detail was previously around one dozen, in the 1979 issue
I quoted 44 examples. I now publish issues annually, and in the 1991 issue the
total number of examples is 813 and requires 150 pages for their description.
The 2001 issue had a total number of 1402 examples.
I have also edited 64 quarterly issues of Fingerprint Whorld since July
1975 and have always strived to follow the precepts of the Finger Print and
Identification Magazine policy of being educational, but not inhibited by
orthodox doctrine. For decades, fingerprint experts all over the world have
received excellent support from the two American publications I have mentioned.
Finger Print and Identification Magazine ceased publication some
years ago, but resumed in 1987, later folding. The IAI publication Identification
News changed its size and format on January 1, 1988, and is now
known as the Journal of Forensic Identification. Together with Fingerprint
Whorld, these journals must continue to monitor and report on the many