IS IT INFALLIBLE?

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 86, 7 April 1934, Page 8

IS IT INFALLIBLE?

FINGERPRINT EVIDENCE CHALLENGED IN HOMELAND LONDON, March 22. Some doubt has at last been thrown on the fingerprint as an infallible clue to identity, states the “Daily Mail.” It follows the conviction with sentence of two months, of George Groves for theft at Bristol, though his fingerprints were the prosecution’s only evidence. Police experts say it is 100 per cent, reliable, though Dr. Galt, the eminent pathologist, admits the possibility that there may be two persons in the world with identical fingerprints. British scientists do not credit the American claim that the prints can be altered surgically, and doctors say that the operation would be most painful, leaving a permanent scar. The Scotland Yard Commissioner, Sir Trevor Bigham, says that the classification of fingerprints is the most valuable contribution yet made to police work. European experts are similarly convinced of its reliability. Finger prints identification suffices for a 1 conviction in Germany. Dr. Locard, the famous French’ criminologist, says that no case oferror has ever been discovered or ever will be. 1