The fingerprint man is here to see you

2026-02-16 - 16:09

One role in which I truly thrived in my police career was examining cadavers. Over the years I began visiting the mortuary regularly, to the point where I was on a first-name basis with all the staff. I often found myself sitting down with them to enjoy a coffee and discuss various cases. During one of my mortuary visits I was told that a person had been struck by a train and was in several pieces on the examination table. I was advised not to lift the white sheet because the injuries were particularly severe. I needed to obtain records of the victim’s fingers and palms, so I cautiously lifted the sheet to locate a hand. The body was indeed in several pieces, to the extent that the fingers were almost severed from the palm, with only tendons holding them in place. It took me some time to identify which finger was which before I could accurately record them. Somehow, I managed to produce a full record of the fingers and palm from both hands so I could try to identify the victim back at the police station. On another occasion, before I examined the deceased, the pathologist warned me that the body was so badly burnt that identification through fingerprints would be impossible. The body had been recovered from a car fire that left no identifiable features on the face or most of the body. As I entered the mortuary, the distinctive stench of charred flesh filled the air. I found that the hands of the deceased were tightly clenched from the intense heat of the fire. As I tried to prise the fingers away from the palm, chunks of skin began to fall away, revealing the extent of the damage. After about 20 minutes of careful work I had opened all the fingers on both hands, but in the process, I had managed to break some of them. I knew the standard procedure of ink and paper for fingerprinting was not feasible on this occasion. Instead, I employed a technique known as casting. This allowed me to capture ridge detail from several fingers and the palm. Back in my office, I searched the detail against our database, successfully identifying the deceased individual. When I returned to the mortuary a few days later, the pathologist acknowledged my skills with a nod of respect, stating that he would never again question my abilities. I was asked to assist with