Photo: Corbis

1906: New York Police Adopt Fingerprinting

In 1906, New York Police Department Commissioner William McAdoo sent Det. Sgt. Joseph Faurot to London to study a new technique, fingerprinting. British police were already using the Henry System of fingerprinting, which Sir Edward Henry had developed around 1900. The NYPD adopted the same system, using the fingerprint cards Faurot had brought back. People v. Crispi was the first case in which fingerprints were the only piece of evidence. In 1911, Faurot testified against the defendant, Charles Crispi, who was accused of burglarizing a women’s garment manufacturer, H.M. Bernstein & Brothers, at 171 Wooster Street in Manhattan. After Faurot’s testimony, the judge asked Crispi to tell the truth, wanting to verify fingerprinting’s effectiveness. Crispi confessed and, in return, received a minimum sentence of six months. In 1997, the NYPD implemented the “AFIS,” or Automated Fingerprint Identification System, which has the most technologically sophisticated search capabilities available.

–Cynthia Blair