Forensis Forum Events

The Post Graduate Department of Criminology and Forensic Science had organized a visit to the District Fingerprint Unit, Mangaluru for second year MSc Criminology and Forensic Science students of Questioned Documents and Impression Evidences (QDIE) specialization on 29th May, 2023 at 10:00am. Mr. Niketh P.S. Assistant Professor of the department had accompanied the students.

As a part of the academic curriculum, the students study fingerprints as their specialization. Hence, the main aim of the visit was to understand the structure and functioning of the fingerprint unit. The headquarters of the fingerprint Bureau is in Madivala, Bengaluru. In Mangalore, there are two fingerprint units i.e the City Fingerprint Unit that handles cases within the city limits and the District Fingerprint Unit that handles all cases under Dakshina Kannada district. In case of heinous crimes, the dog squad visits the scene of crime first followed by the fingerprint unit and the forensic laboratory officials. The students learned about the importance of photographing the chance prints with scale before lifting the print. The prints should be lifted from areas the culprits may have touched. The most commonly used powders in the fingerprint unit are black, white and silver. They also learned about collection of footprints by using a tracing method and photographing it along with the measuring scale. They were explained about the requisition letter, SoC report, inmate certificate and expert opinion given by the fingerprint expert in detail. Lastly, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) was demonstrated and explained by the officials. The officials were very interactive and encouraged the students to write government examinations as there were vacancies in the fingerprint unit. They also cleared the doubts the students had regarding the field. There was positive feedback about the visit and students expressed that it was practical and informative. Ms. Nisha, Class representative of QDIE specialization delivered the vote of thanks. A total of 13 students, one faculty and three police officials were part of this programme.