FINGERPRINTS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 186, 14 August 1911, Page 8

FINGERPRINTS.

AN INTERESTING SYSTEM

The Anger-print,, collection, of the New Zealand police* consisted, ai> the end of March last, of/the 'impressions of 10,905 offe«dei»,;; iTeinjg.-an. increase ©f 986 pn^h^pir^vib'fe'yfear;l; JDuririg the year 148 offenders,-whose antecedents were uiilinown. to the police of ' Tbhe -district^ in .which, they. ; were;tin custody, were,, py .the- means of the jfinger impressions.* identified,:as ...pt-ef viously con,victe>d .perspns, showing ■;'. ian: increase""of eijgfyt .over .last yean • Finger. prints;'t^'persons in, custody •here, reports ||i© po,mmissjidner. vpf ; "Police, have : bjeen r identined in the " Australian Stafe^ a=nd I^ondoij as those of persons previously, convicted,^in .'■ those plricQs,,,while,prints of persons ■" in custody in £h,p. variod^.-States' pf Australia hay-e "Been identified ifere (as " those of persons, .previously cpn-jric.i;ed [in New Zealand^ ~•' .».,-... . : ~,;,.. XV .. '< ■\ As a detective.! agency th^ fingerprint system:is.o| great practical as*sistance to tlie.ge'niral police,-andriiii ''several instances it has been the sole means of establishing the identity ,of 'tho offender and securing his;conyjer: ' iion. In case,, which Occurred' ' during %he ■ ea.rly part of,this, .year; .no1 suspicion .was attackable to any one, but .a • small finger-marked piece of' glass which was found at the scene of the crime revealed to the fingerprint expert the identity of a man whose presence-m the district was unltnown, and resulted in the subsequent apprehensipji and admission of guilt, ,pf the culprit.; ■• ,: The general police are now required :•• to take the finger impressions of all deceased persons whose identity.is'«n- ---„ Icnown, and them for search j. and comparison'; by the finger-print experts and within a period of threeTnonths the identity of two such persons was ascertained- in this way. The system of registration pf the criminal history .of all finger-printed. ( offenders has nudergona material improyement during the '-ear, and this section furnishes much valuable information to all branches ;df the department. ! During the year t[is 'portraits of 1162 Australian criminob have been received, recorded, and distributed to the principal cities in the Dominion ;

of 384 New Zeala»d criminals 4jeen circulated and filed; and 653 photographsi have been taken, for general police purposes, by the photographer at headquarters. As the collection of finger prints, .criminal histories, photographs, etc., is/ increasing, the- general search is becoming proportionately slower arid more difficult and the existent pressure of work., in the bureau indicates, | the consistent expansion of the system of identification, the more general recognition of its value, and the increasing advantage which is being taken of its usefulness.