National Bureau of Criminal Identification

The National Bureau of Criminal Identification (NBCI), also called the National Bureau of Identification,[1] was an agency founded by the National Chiefs of Police Union in 1896, and opened in 1897, to record identifying information on criminals and share that information with law enforcement.[2][3] It was located in Chicago until 1902, at which point it was moved to Washington, D.C. William Pinkerton, co-director of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, donated his agency's collection of photographs to the newfound agency.[4] NBCI initially only collected photographs and Bertillon records,[5] which limited the Bureau's effectiveness.[6][7] Its effectiveness greatly increased when it began collecting fingerprints. NBCI ceased to exist as an independent organization when it was absorbed into the Federal Bureau of Investigation on July 26, 1908.[8][9]

It is possible, according to E.K. Thode, chief of the National Division of Identification and Information, to reconstruct a fingerprint with positive accuracy

References edit

  1. ^ David C. Rapoport (2006). Terrorism: The first or anarchist wave. Taylor & Francis. pp. 398–. ISBN 978-0-415-31651-4. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  2. ^ Colin Evans (12 August 2004). Murder Two: The Second Casebook of Forensic Detection. John Wiley & Sons. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-471-66699-8. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  3. ^ James Andrew Conser; Rebecca Paynich; Terry E. Gingerich (20 October 2011). Law Enforcement in the United States. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 450. ISBN 978-0-7637-9938-0. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  4. ^ LeRoy Panek (1990). Probable Cause: Crime Fiction in America. Popular Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-87972-486-3. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  5. ^ Simon A. COLE; Simon A Cole (30 June 2009). Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification. Harvard University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-674-02968-2. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  6. ^ Mitchel P. Roth; James Stuart Olson (2001). Historical Dictionary of Law Enforcement. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-313-30560-3. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  7. ^ Jonathan Mathew Finn (4 November 2009). Capturing the Criminal Image: From Mug Shot to Surveillance Society. U of Minnesota Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8166-5069-9. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  8. ^ Caroline Sutton (31 August 2010). How Do They Do That?. HarperCollins. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-06-201852-6. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  9. ^ Federal Bureau of Investigation (1 August 1975). Handbook of Forensic Science. The Minerva Group, Inc. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-89499-073-1. Retrieved 18 March 2013.