Fingerprint match game: click here

How much do you know about fingerprints? 

During the 1400's, a doctor discovered that no two fingerprints were the same.  Your fingerprints will never change - no matter how old you become.

You are born with fingerprints.  One of the reasons why you have fingerprints is to help identify who you are, do you know another reason why you have fingerprints?  To help with our grip!  If you're skin was smooth and you didn't have fingerprints (the ridges on your fingertips) you would have a hard time holding a pencil or a crayon.

The Identification unit at the Windsor Police Service rely on fingerprints to help solve some of our crimes.  We have a fingerprint technician who studies fingerprints every day.  

Sometimes, the fingerprints may be hard to see, so a special fingerprint scanner is used to copy the fingerprint and show it on the technician's computer.  The lights on the scanner are high-powered and look like the antennae on a bug.

There is a certain way to read fingerprints.  Each fingerprint has ridges that form 1 of 3 patterns: whorls, arches or loops.   

The whorl pattern looks like a bulls-eye on a dart board.  

Whorls have lines entering at the side of the
finger pad and spiraling inward, ending in the center.

The loop pattern looks like hills, neatly fitting together.  

Loops have lines entering at one side of the
finger pad and leaving on the same side.

The Arche pattern looks like a bridge.

Arches have lines entering on one side of the
finger pad and leaving on the opposite side.

Click on the hand for a sample fingerprint, showing what the technician looks for when trying to identify fingerprints (this fingerprint would have a loop pattern):

Ready to try our fingerprint match game?