Page 83 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

68 AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS

have an electronic link to the state identification bureau but that has access to
NCIC. The subject can be inked, the images coded according to NCIC rules,
and the descriptors, along with other arrest information, sent through NCIC to
the Interstate Identification Index (III).

3.6.2 THE HENRY AND AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS

While the Henry and American Classification Systems have a great deal in
common, they are also quite different. The majority of criminal justice identi-
fication agencies used the Henry System; only the state of New York used the
American System.
The Henry System was designed by Sir Edward Henry. While working for the
Indian Civil Service in the late 1800s, he recorded the finger images of all crim-
inals, including all ten fingers, a procedure unique at the time. He developed
a classification system, composed of 1,024 primary classifications, that assigned
each of the ten fingers a unique number, beginning with the right thumb as
finger 1 to the right little finger as finger number 5. The left thumb was finger
number 6, through to the left little finger, finger number 10 (see Table 3.3).
In the primary classification of the Henry System, a whorl assumed the value
of the finger in which it appeared. The even-numbered fingers were designated
as numerators and received a value of the whorl value plus one. The odd-
numbered fingers were designated as the denominator and also received a
value of the whorl value plus one. If there was no whorl in any of the ten finger
impressions, the primary classification would be 1 in the numerator and 1 in
the denominator, i.e., the primary classification would be 1 over 1.
In addition to this primary classification, there were secondary classifications
for the index finger of each hand. Using the pattern types (radial loop, arch,
tented arch, ulnar loop), a capital letter would be assigned to the index finger
of each hand, e.g., T for tented arch. A secondary classification was also devel-
oped for impressions with a radial loop, arch, or tented arch for any finger
except the index finder. This was known as the small letter group of the
secondary classification. Finally, there was a subsecondary classification, also
referred to as the grouping of loops and whorls, which coded the ridge of the
loops and ridge tracings of whorls in the index, middle, and ring fingers.

Table 3.3
Primary Values for the Finger number 1 2 3 4 5
Henry Classification Primary value 16 16 8 8 4
System Finger number 6 7 8 9 10
Primary value 4 2 2 1 1