Editing Fingerprint (section)

=== 20th century ===
The French scientist Paul-Jean Coulier developed a method to transfer latent fingerprints on surfaces to paper using [[iodine]] fuming. It allowed the London [[Scotland Yard]] to start fingerprinting individuals and identify criminals using fingerprints in 1901. Soon after, American police departments adopted the same method and fingerprint identification became a standard practice in the United States.<ref name="auto1"/> The Scheffer case of 1902 is the first case of the identification, arrest, and conviction of a murderer based upon fingerprint evidence. [[Alphonse Bertillon]] identified the thief and murderer Scheffer, who had previously been arrested and his fingerprints filed some months before, from the fingerprints found on a fractured glass showcase, after a theft in a dentist's apartment where the dentist's employee was found dead. It was able to be proved in court that the fingerprints had been made after the showcase was broken.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/celebrations2002/empreintes.htm |first = Jean-Marc |last = Berlière |publisher = Célébrations Nationales |title = Arrestation du premier assassin confondu par ses empreintes digitales |date = 16 October 1902 |access-date = October 26, 2009 |archive-date = March 2, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100302164657/http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/celebrations2002/empreintes.htm |url-status = live }}</ref>

The identification of individuals through fingerprints for [[law enforcement]] has been considered essential in the [[United States]] since the beginning of the 20th century. [[Body identification]] using fingerprints has also been valuable in the aftermath of [[natural disaster]]s and [[anthropogenic hazard]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Forensic Laboratory Handbook Procedures and Practice|first1=Ashraf |last1=Mozayani |first2=Carla |last2=Noziglia|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2010|isbn=978-1607618720|pages=146}}</ref> In the United States, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] manages a fingerprint identification system and database called the [[Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System]] (IAFIS), which currently holds the fingerprints and criminal records of over 51&nbsp;million criminal record subjects and over 1.5&nbsp;million civil (non-criminal) fingerprint records. [[U.S. Visit|OBIM]], formerly U.S. VISIT, holds the largest repository of biometric identifiers in the U.S. government at over 260&nbsp;million individual identities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Biometrics |url=https://www.dhs.gov/biometrics |website=Department of Homeland Security |access-date=17 June 2021 |language=en |date=2016-10-24 |archive-date=June 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617095144/https://www.dhs.gov/biometrics |url-status=live }}</ref> When it was deployed in 2004, this repository, known as the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), stored biometric data in the form of two-finger records. Between 2005 and 2009, the [[United States Department of Homeland Security|DHS]] transitioned to a ten-print record standard in order to establish interoperability with IAFIS.<ref name="meunier2013biometrics">{{cite book |last1=Meunier |first1=Pierre |last2=Xiao |first2=Qinghan |last3=Vo |first3=Tien |title=Biometrics for National Security: The Case for a Whole of Government Approach |date=June 2013 |publisher=Defence Research and Development Canada |page=19 |url=https://cradpdf.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/PDFS/unc124/p537494_A1b.pdf |access-date=17 June 2021 |archive-date=October 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018073912/https://cradpdf.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/PDFS/unc124/p537494_A1b.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Fingerprinting 1928.jpg|thumb|Female clerical employees of the [[Los Angeles Police Department]] being fingerprinted and photographed in 1928]]
In 1910, [[Edmond Locard]] established the first [[Forensic science|forensic lab]] in France.<ref name="auto1"/> Criminals may wear [[gloves]] to avoid leaving fingerprints. However, the gloves themselves can leave prints that are as unique as human fingerprints. After collecting [[glove prints]], law enforcement can match them to gloves that they have collected as evidence or to prints collected at other crime scenes.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sawer |first=Patrick |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/3740688/Police-use-glove-prints-to-catch-criminals.html |title=Police use glove prints to catch criminals |publisher=The Telegraph |date=December 13, 2008 |access-date=September 14, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113153145/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/3740688/Police-use-glove-prints-to-catch-criminals.html |archive-date=January 13, 2012 }}</ref> In many [[jurisdictions]] the act of wearing gloves itself while committing a crime can be prosecuted as an [[inchoate offense]].<ref name=McCord>James W.H. McCord and Sandra L. McCord, ''Criminal Law and Procedure for the paralegal: a systems approach'', ''supra'', p. 127.</ref>