HOW ARE FINGERPRINTS COLLECTED?

Finger printing is done by
a. using ink and a card, or
b. using digital scanning and printing
In ink fingerprinting process, the person’s finger is first cleaned with alcohol to remove any sweat and dried thoroughly. The person then rolls his or her fingertip on the inkpad to cover the entire finger digit. Then each finger is the rolled onto pre-marked cards from one side of the fingernail to the other. These are therefore called “rolled prints”. Then, all 10 fingers of both the hands are placed on the card at a 45° angle, ensuring enough ink is left over the fingers, to produce a set of “plain or flat impressions”. These are useful to verify the accuracy of rolled impressions as well as for keeping record of 10 digit prints.
In the digital scanning based fingerprinting, an image of finger print is taken by placing the fingers of the person on an optical reading surface of the device and held for a few seconds till all the characteristics are recorded. The reader then converts the information from the scanner to the printer for making a 10 digit fingerprint card.