[Practicability of the mobile one-finger scanner Cross Match MV5 in fingerprinting of corpses: are mobile fingerprinting scanners suitable for use in mass disasters?].
Dactyloscopy is a special field in the police records department and a suitable means for identifying unknown dead persons as well as solving crimes by taking fingerprints from living persons. Apart from the conventional methods of dactyloscopy, mobile and more compact instruments are to facilitate taking prints of fingertips and palms also at the scene of mass disasters. In the presented study, living persons and corpses were examined to find out the possible uses and limits of mobile one-finger scanners. The concrete issue of the investigation was whether the mobile one-finger scanner Cross Match MV5 is suitable for application in mass disasters. The device was used in 12 corpses aged 5 weeks to 76 years (mean postmortem interval 5.5 days) and in 28 living persons aged 6 weeks to 87 years. In summary, the scanner produced qualitatively good prints in all age groups of the living individuals. In the corpses, the prints were only partly evaluable. In particular, fingers and fingertips with soot blackening and livid discoloration were difficult to analyse. Postmortem rigidity also complicated the handling of the scanner. In fresh corpses, the scanner can be recommended without reservation. Even if the epidermis was detached, the scanner was able to produce evaluable prints of the dermis of the hypothenar.
Breitmeier
Dirk
D
Institut für Rechtsmedizin der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover.
Landmesser
Britta
B
Schulz
Yvonne
Y
Albrecht
Knut
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003878:Dermatoglyphics / Q000145:classification*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D008875:Middle Aged; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012984:Software