IMPOSTOR DETEECTION AND DACTYLOGRAPHY IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS

IMPOSTOR DETEECTION AND DACTYLOGRAPHY IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS BY DSI JAMES KOR “The jailer left Otega in deep thought. This is certainly not the destination he envisioned six months ago when he set in motion the process of getting out of this ‘goddamned’ country for greener pasture abroad. He had done everything within his power to procure the journey, but all went south, now he has found himself in jail. Otega Francis was born to a humble family background. His parents were honest civil servants who remained dutiful to their nation for thirty five honest years of service to fatherland. Otega was educated through public schools, graduating with good grades, did his national service year and scouted for job for a number of years without success. He eventually decided to teach in a private school in the neighbourhood hiring at the time. He could barely feed from the stipend paid to him for his work; neither could he take care of his retired parents whose pensions were not regular. Otega was at the crossroads. He made a firm decision to leave the country at all cost if he must survive. He convinced his parents to sell the only piece of land the family was left with, after selling one earlier to finance his education. He procured a passport and then applied for a short visit (Tourist) visa at the American embassy in Abuja, but was turned down for not meeting the requirements. In desperation, and through the support of some renegade clique of immigration officers, he bought another passport with American visa valid for three month. He was now to be called Dura Malami. Still with the help or rather services of the Immigration agents he was ‘facilitated’ to embark on the trip. The journey was almost successful until the New York immigration officer detected a case of impostor, leading to the arrest of Otega Francis as Dura Malami.” INTRODUCTION Crime is an old phenomenon in human society and it is truly a societal creation. Every nation state sets boundaries of human interaction and deploys coercion in various forms to encourage and discourage certain actions. To achieve this, state actors (agencies) are responsible for investigation and prosecution of breach of the law. Consequently, successful investigation of crime and a fair administration of justice depend on the quality of evidence. Forensic science offers objective and reliable evidence which ensures that criminals do not go unpunished; unlike eyewitness testimony makes it easy for criminals to escape punishment. This paper articulates how to detect impostor and how to deploy the fingerprint science in profiling an individual. The Fingerprint principles of individuality, permanency and Classification/variety are key forms of determining and confirming identical or otherwise of questioned and specimen fingerprints. It is based on the above principles that we could compare fingerprints and establish the identity of an individual in any given impersonation case. IMPOSTOR DETECTION A number of ways by which documents are abused exist in contemporary society but the most common are forgery, counterfeiting, impostor (identity theft) and spurious documents. Among these, impersonation seems to be on the rise followed closely by forgeries. It has become increasingly difficult to alter or counterfeit security documents now due to advancement in science and technology. There is more fortification in documents with introduction of security features in documents. Identity theft has become more fashionable for criminals where often impostors only use genuine documents, unaltered documents that have a picture that resembles the face of the current user. To examine such documents for signs of forgery is a waste of time. However, to identify this type of document abuse requires a careful facial comparison of the person in front of you with the attached photograph in the document, using the following skills and techniques: *identify principal facial features *divide the face into five segments and view separately *view each segment as an individual piece while comparing *do not view the face holistically The following facial features should be examined and compared, while checking for colour, depth, shape, distance, the alignment of the eyes to the ears, the distance from nose to the chin, the alignment of the mouth to the ears, etc. Eyes Nose Mouth Ears Skin Bone Structure. In general, however, a systematic and comprehensive analysis of two or more faces can be performed by first comparing the overall shape of each face. Three primary shapes are Round, Oval and Square. DACTYLOGRAPHY The science of using fingerprints to uniquely identify a person is Dactylography. In contemporary criminal investigations, fingerprint science (Like other branches of forensic science) is playing a key role since such evidence is considered as conclusive before the Court of Law, and it is also very accurate and cheapest method of uniquely identifying a person. Fingerprint Identification is the method of identification using the impressions made by the minute ridge formations or patterns found on the fingertips. No two persons have exactly the same arrangement of ridge patterns, and the patterns of any one individual remain unchanged throughout life, hence, Fingerprints offer an infallible means of personal identification. Other personal characteristics may change, but fingerprints do not. Fingerprints can be recorded on a standard fingerprint card or can be recorded digitally and transmitted electronically to the fingerprint laboratory for comparison. By comparing fingerprints at the scene of a crime with the fingerprint record of suspected persons, officials can establish absolute proof of the presence or identity of a person. People can be identified by their fingerprints and other biometric modalities like iris scan, retina scan, face, vascular, hand geometry, signature, voice, gait and DNA. But the fundamental principles of fingerprint science which form the basis for adoption of fingerprints as a means of positive personal identification are variety, immutability and persistency. Variety: a fingerprint is characteristically unique to an individual. Therefore, it varies from one person to another. No two different digits have yet been found to posses identical ridge characteristics. They are only identical if produced from the same finger of the same person. Fingerprints are classified broadly into four groups, namely: Arches, Loops, Whorls and Composites. So it might be possible to find a number of similar types of fingerprint patterns, but not identical due to different ridge characteristics and the location of the ridge minutiae in their relative positions. It can be asserted positively that two fingerprints of different digits cannot have identical ridge characteristics unless produced from the same finger. The 1903 famous case of Will West and William West, two prisoners who were not distinguishable by bodily measurements or photographs, but only by fingerprints, positively concludes that fingerprints differ and are uniquely personal. Immutability: the concept of immutability refers to the fact that fingerprints never change by accidental injuries, ailments or any other physical changes of a person, except for severe permanent disfiguration as in the case of leprosy. Otherwise, in temporary skin disfigurement caused by warts, cuts, infections burns, skin disease, etc, the ridges will again regain their original appearance after healing, that is, if the glands in the lower skin levels have not been affected. Persistency: fingerprints remain permanent, unchanged during an individual’s life time only destroyed by decomposition after death. Persistency of ridge marks is observed in the details of ridges or minutiae and in the general character of the pattern. Although cuts, burns and skin diseases may produce temporal disfigurement of the ridge pattern, the ridges will ordinarily resume their original appearance on healing. Criminals have occasionally accomplished destruction of the ridges by mutilating or illegal operations. CONCLUSION The Crime of impersonation or identity theft may be successfully eliminated if state actors responsible at various points of entry acquire knowledge and skills in impostor detection and deploy relevant parameters for profiling, especially fingerprint identification. Aiding and abetting of such crime by service personnel could be curtailed by proper supervision and commitment of staff at the points of entry as well as service offices in the hinterland. The deployment and utilisation of technology in modern migration management can only bring about efficient delivery of the national and service goals and objectives. And finally, advocacy is required to educate, especially, the younger population about seeking regular migration in their quest for greener pasture. Realising that some of the resources wasted in procuring illegal migration could actually be utilised in setting up legitimate business in Nigeria. REFERENCES V.N. Sehgal, Forensic Science, Its Related Issues, Techniques and Court Evidence, (Selective and Scientific Books), 2017, New Delhi. Dr. (Mrs) Rukmani Krishnamurthy, Introduction to Forensic Science in Criminal Investigation, (Selective and Scientific Books), 2011, New Delhi. S. Indira Sudha, Biometrics and Fingerprint Analysis, (Selective and Scientific Books), 2013, New Delhi.