Friday, January 20, 2012

Rehabilitating Fingerprints

On NPR yesterday, there was a story about a decapitated head in a bag found under the Hollywood sign, and then reports that police had found hands and feet as well. This led to an interview with a forensic investigator who said he worked with "rehabilitating fingerprints". This sounded quite alarming to me. So if the police department is attempting to rehabilitate fingerprints, does this mean that fingerprints are committing crimes too, all by themselves? And since this whole issue was raised in reference to a story about a horrendous murder, could this mean that fingerprints are behind this vicious crime?

Are fingerprints themselves violent, psychopathic criminals, detaching themselves from our fingers at night to perpetrate horrible crimes, after which they furtively sneak back and re-adhere themselves to our unsuspecting fingertips? Or more troublingly, could they indeed be peer-pressuring their fingers to engage in criminal behavior, or more shockingly, could it be possible that these criminal fingerprints are actually possessing their owners' bodies while they're asleep, forcing them to commit heinous crimes, after which the person remembers nothing? If the police are trying to rehabilitate fingerprints, then this must be true! And if this is the case, then how do we know who is guilty: a person or their fingerprints?

I only hope the police are able to rehabilitate these criminal fingerprints before it's too late!