Fingerprints used in manufacturing/packaging
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 7:49 am
Good morning,
I came across a submitted latent lift this week that was a little extraordinary, and thought it was worth sharing with the fingerprint community:
Last week, I received one latent lift with a remarkable latent print, one of the best I've come across. Something about the print struck me - it looked familiar and "too good to be true." While reviewing the information from the latent lift, I realized that the print had been lifted from a Nike shoebox. Several months ago, while still in training, I was working a vehicle with another latent print examiner, and the car was full of Nike boxes. One particular box, a black box, caught my attention in that what appeared to be a fingerprint was visible from a distance. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the print had been placed upon the box as part of the packaging. A little research revealed through various chat boards and Google search results, this was perhaps some sort of authentication for a certain line of Air Jordans.
Flash forward to last week, I began to suspect that this "latent print" was actually a lift of the shoebox. I Google searched a few keywords, something like "Nike shoebox fingerprint" and one of the images brought up the fingerprint on the box. I uploaded the image into our onscreen comparison software, compared it to the submitted lift, and determined it was overwhelmingly an identification.
Upon bringing it to my supervisor's attention, we contacted Nike headquarters. We received a call back from their Global Investigations department. According to them, the print was "a promotional item on the 2012 Air Jordan shoes. It is a lacquered print on the box (Michael Jordan's thumb print)."
I have attached images of the latent, the image I found online and compared, and another image of the print on the box, also found online. I thought it was worth sharing with the community to make other examiner's aware. It also may be interesting to run a latent vs. latent search in AFIS systems to see if this has been input as a genuine latent in any older cases. We did the same in our unit and it fortunately did not. If anyone would like a high-res scan of the latent, I have that available as well.
Cody Rowlett
Latent Print Unit
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
I came across a submitted latent lift this week that was a little extraordinary, and thought it was worth sharing with the fingerprint community:
Last week, I received one latent lift with a remarkable latent print, one of the best I've come across. Something about the print struck me - it looked familiar and "too good to be true." While reviewing the information from the latent lift, I realized that the print had been lifted from a Nike shoebox. Several months ago, while still in training, I was working a vehicle with another latent print examiner, and the car was full of Nike boxes. One particular box, a black box, caught my attention in that what appeared to be a fingerprint was visible from a distance. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the print had been placed upon the box as part of the packaging. A little research revealed through various chat boards and Google search results, this was perhaps some sort of authentication for a certain line of Air Jordans.
Flash forward to last week, I began to suspect that this "latent print" was actually a lift of the shoebox. I Google searched a few keywords, something like "Nike shoebox fingerprint" and one of the images brought up the fingerprint on the box. I uploaded the image into our onscreen comparison software, compared it to the submitted lift, and determined it was overwhelmingly an identification.
Upon bringing it to my supervisor's attention, we contacted Nike headquarters. We received a call back from their Global Investigations department. According to them, the print was "a promotional item on the 2012 Air Jordan shoes. It is a lacquered print on the box (Michael Jordan's thumb print)."
I have attached images of the latent, the image I found online and compared, and another image of the print on the box, also found online. I thought it was worth sharing with the community to make other examiner's aware. It also may be interesting to run a latent vs. latent search in AFIS systems to see if this has been input as a genuine latent in any older cases. We did the same in our unit and it fortunately did not. If anyone would like a high-res scan of the latent, I have that available as well.
Cody Rowlett
Latent Print Unit
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
