Abstract

Abstract— Fingerprints are the primary source of individual identification in many forensic cases, civil and criminal. A fingerprint analyst compares the disputed / questioned fingerprint impressions collected from the scene of the crime or questioned document against the known fingerprint impressions. The features are compared for class and individual features with the aid of magnifying glasses, stereomicroscopes, photo enlargement, comparison microscopes or digital microscopes. However, fingerprint experts sometimes have difficulty in analysing the smudged or unclear fingerprint images where the ridge features cannot be seen clearly. This presents a problem in many cases and experts in these cases are still left with inconclusive opinions. This research demonstrates the effective use of different conventional image enhancement tools inside Microsoft Office and its different formatting to enhance the fingerprint images to a point where the friction ridge minutiae can be seen more effectively. The study indicates the use of conventional digital image enhancement tools like Adobe Photoshop and the image formatting features of Microsoft PowerPoint and Word can enhance ridge features to a point where two sets of fingerprints can be compared when proper settings are applied to the images. The study also creates future opportunities for research to potentially add more sophisticated image-enhancing methods to unreadable friction ridge impressions or fingerprint patterns.