Evening star., 1935-11-17
GUN F|NGERPR|NT
OFTEN VA[UELESS
New York Police Official
Tells Difficulty of Check.
ing All Records.
BY the Associated Press,

NEW YORK, November 16.-Rarely.
II ever, are fingerprints left on q pistol.
Fingerprints found at the scene OF
crime often are valueless in leading
police to the criminal, unless q spe-
ciflc person is under suspicion and
his or her fingerprints are In the police
departments criminal identification
files.
These statements were made today
by high ranking official Of the New
York Police Department, q nationally
known fingerprint expert, who con.
sented to "debunk" fngerprinting only
on the condition that his name not
be published.
"All this stuff about solving a crime
through fngerprints found on a pistol
Is purely fiction" he said "If 1t were
true, the while science of crime de-
lection would soon devolve into moth.
ing but laboratory of fingerprint ex-
perts.'
Test With Pistol.
He picked up an unloaded pistol
and handed it to his questioner.
Here" he said. graz it as If you
were going to fire it.
See? Your last three fingers and
thumb wrap around the butt, with the
tips meeting your palm The only
fngerprints left would be on your
own palm.
Look how your index finger is bent
over the trigger. The trigger is nest
ling IN the crotch Of the first knuckle.
The print Of that finger might be left
on the thin air, but that's all.
"A rifle, or tommy gun, or some
other weapon with a stock thick
enough to prevent your finger tips
from meeting your palms would show
prints, sure. but pistol-hardly ever"
The oflcial also scoffed at the popu-
lar conception of f1ngerprint left at
the scene Of a crime being as good as
one-way ticket to prison or the elec-
trio chair.
The f1ngerprint is solving a crime
is ordinarily valuable only under two
conditions.
Important Conditions.
First the print must be a legible
one found in a suspicious spot. And
secondly, we must have very definite
suspect or group Of suspects whose
prints are on record so that we can
compare them"
The official said that universal
fngerprinting Of all inhabitants of
the United States would be impossible
and of comparatively little value.
I'm the first place" he said, 'there
would be then some 10000, 900 finger
print cards. You'd have to build a
place to keep them and hire an
enormous staff Of experts. And then
where are you?
Civilian, non-criminal fingerprints
obviously would have to be kept
meticulouSly apart from the criminal
hles, and could never be cross-indexed
with them. Their value, therefore,
would be entirely that of identifca-
ton In cases Of violent death, amnesia
or cases of mistaken identity.
But then again we would have TO
know for whom we were looking.
An unidentified man Is killed BY
an auto, let US say. We can take
all the flngerprints of the body we
please, but unless we have some other
clue to identity we can never estab-
lish 1t because again It would be i'm.
possible to check the prints against
every one Of the 10000, 900 other
cards.
Facts to Start With.
However, II Mrs. Jones had re.
ported her husband missing and last
seen in Brooklyn, and we had his
prints in our civilian files, then we
could easily check his prints against
those Of all unidentified persons in
police cases. In that case, the system
might be of considerable value"
Since 1926, when the practice of
voluntary civilian f1ngerprint record
ings was begun by the New York City
Police Department. some 100000 per-
sons have left their cards on file. But
a like number has insisted on tax
ing their flngerprints home with
them, skeptical Of the police depart
ment's promise not to look up their
prints in criminal cases.