Fingerprints FAQs
Q: What is a fingerprint?
A: Fingerprints are fully formed by birth and never change throughout a individual's life, except in size. There are no two individuals in the world with the same fingeprint.
For more information check out our 'Fingerprint' section.
Q: What is the National Fingerprint Collection?
A: The National Fingerprint Collection consists of fingerprint impressions from all persons convicted of a criminal offence in Scotland and currently holds in excess of 350,000 records.
Q: Do relatives have the same fingerprints?
A: Research has shown that there are hereditary trends in fingerprint pattern types and distribution between parents and child i.e. if your parents have mostly whorl patterns you will be disposed to having whorl patterns. This can be seen most readily in twins where their patterns may be the same and located on the same relevant digit.
However, the fingerprint remains unique to every individual because of the fine ridge details present in the fingerprint such as ridge endings, bifurcations, pore locations etc.
For further information on the formation and uniqueness of fingerprints click here.
Q: What is the CRFP?
A: CRFP is the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners and is a professional regulatory body. All fingerprint experts are supported to obtain membership with the CRFP. Its central function is to prepare and manage a register of currently competent forensic practitioners.
For further information on the CRFP go to www.crfp.org.uk/
Q: What was NAFIS?
A: The National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS), first introduced to all police forces in England and Wales, assisted with the identification of fingerprints and the storage of fingerprint sets.
The introduction of NAFIS meant that the number and speed at which identifications could be made increased significantly and there was a higher percentage of successful identifications in each force. The NAFIS database consisted of more than 5 million sets of prints and almost one million crime scene marks. The database was later developed as part of the new IDENT1 system.
Q: What is Automatic Fingerprint Recognition (AFR)?
A: AFR stands for Automatic Fingerprint Recognition. It is a computerised system to assist in the searching of fingerprints to confirm identity or searching scene of crime marks to trace offenders. The database consists of the fingerprints of all convicted persons fingerprinted throughout Scotland.
Q: Can AFR identify fingerprints?
A: No, AFR cannot identify fingerprints. It offers trained and experienced fingerprint officers the ability to search a much larger range of fingerprints than is possible with manual systems.
Q: What is Livescan?
A: Livescan is the capture of fingerprint and palm images without ink using an electro-optical computerised device. The advantage of this system is that the images can be transferred directly and searched at the Glasgow Fingerprint Unit of SPSA Forensic Services for processing on the Automatic Fingerprint Recognition (AFR) system.
Q: What are marks?
A: The impressions left, often accidentally, at crime scenes or on objects associated with crimes, i.e. scene of crime marks (SOC).
Q: What are Tenprints?
The rolled impressions of finger and palm prints taken under controlled conditions, normally at a police station.