Page 44 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

CHAPTER 2

HISTOR Y OF AUTOMA TED
FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICA TION
SYSTEMS

AFIS systems are built on finger images and computers. Having either no
fingerprint-based images or no computers would mean no AFIS. But there were
well-established identification systems in place for over 100 years that relied
exclusively on people rather than computers. In fact, there are references to
hand prints taken for identification purposes in India, Japan, China, and the
Middle East long before classification systems were developed. Table 2.1 pre-
sents a timetable of early uses of hand and fingerprints.

2.1 EARLY PRINTS
In many instances, examination of hand prints was the only method of distin-
guishing one illiterate person from another since they could not write their own
names. Accordingly, the hand impressions of those who could not record a
name but could press an inked hand onto the back of a contract became an
acceptable form of identification. In 1858, Sir William Herschel, working for
the Civil Service of India, recorded a hand print on the back of a contract
for each worker to distinguish employees from others who might claim to
be employees when payday arrived. This was the first recorded systematic
capture of hand and finger images that were uniformly taken for identification
purposes.
Hershel’s actions introduced fingerprints into accepted British business prac-
tices. Here was a method of identifying illiterate workers to be able to pay them
for their services. If there was a dispute, the back of the worker’s contract could
be compared with a new image of the same hand. Hershel certainly did not
invent fingerprinting any more than Henry Ford invented automobiles, but he
popularized the notion that individuals could be recognized and distinguished,
regardless of what name they used or whether they were literate. This process
worked well with a relatively small group. It is also one of the earliest examples
of a one-to-one (1:1) search, in which one known item is compared to another
known item. In this case, when the hand image on the contract was compared