Fingerprinting without Fingers

January 12, 2005 3:55 PM

BodypartCuriosityFilter - I just read a news article where Tom Ridge wants fingerprints on passports. I also have seen, (I'm assuming due to security concerns), increased requests/demands for fingerprints in banks, at customs, etc.

So, my question is this - what happens when they run into a double hand amputee? Do they get a prosthetic/hook/deviceprint? Or, does someone make a note that says 'no hands'? Or is something else done?
posted by spinifex23 to Law & Government (18 answers total)

Toes have prints, too.
posted by interrobang at 4:01 PM on January 12, 2005

The get a stamp that says "Mostly harmless." Really, I'm just speculating, but isn't it a moot point. Who would be so stupid as to force them to provide some other means of identification.
posted by furtive at 4:31 PM on January 12, 2005

Well, there have been cases of amputees smuggling drugs/weapons/etc in their prostheses. Handicaps are no, um, handicap to criminality.
posted by jonmc at 4:51 PM on January 12, 2005

Neither are biometric identification papers.
posted by grouse at 5:02 PM on January 12, 2005

I asked the guy who takes fingerprints at the local DMV about this. The left thumb can be substituted for the right thumb. Other fingers may be used if both thumbs are gone. If no fingers are available, toes may be used.

He also said that in 26 years at the DMV, he'd never needed anyone to take off their shoes.
posted by SPrintF at 5:07 PM on January 12, 2005

I really just love this question.

Googling found this, which I had no idea even existed. Not security-related, but still cool. (Although the animated gif is creepy....)
posted by mudpuppie at 5:35 PM on January 12, 2005

Who would be so stupid as to force them to provide some other means of identification.

The issue isn't who's dumb enough to not figure out what to do, but who along the hierarchy can authorize breaking the rules in a strange circumstance. Most likely the double amputee has to wait around for an hour while one supervisor calls another supervisor.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 5:53 PM on January 12, 2005

SPrintF: That's because people with no arms don't drive. With passports it'd be more likely.
posted by abcde at 6:34 PM on January 12, 2005

That's because people with no arms don't drive.

That's a little presumptuous, isn't it?
posted by mudpuppie at 6:46 PM on January 12, 2005

I seem to recall reading that the fingerprint as unique identifier has never really been scientifically proven, just that it has worked pretty well so far statistically speaking -- any truth to that?
posted by dorian at 6:55 PM on January 12, 2005

mudpuppie: You're right, that was horribly presumptuous, but still, I imagine a substantially lower percentage of them drive than of the population as a whole, and they're a small population, so the chances are down.
posted by abcde at 7:08 PM on January 12, 2005

That's a better way of putting it. Thanks.
posted by mudpuppie at 8:57 PM on January 12, 2005

There was a news story a couple of years back where a welder was simply denied security clearance because he had inadequate biometric identification points. His finger prints had been worn off from years of working with hot metal.

So the answer in some cases is "tough luck."
posted by Laen at 9:01 PM on January 12, 2005

That's because people with no arms don't drive.

I'm not going to claim that everyone or even a lot of people with no arms drive, but an armless motivational speaker came to my high school and talked to us about how he ended up getting his license.
posted by themadjuggler at 3:43 AM on January 13, 2005

I'm pretty sure saying people with amputated arms don't drive is umm... pretty ignorant. The War Amps have a booklet that talks in detail about that very topic. It even warns that uneducated DMV employees may try and say that amputees need special assessment before they can test, but in many cases this is not true.
Just sayin'....
posted by raedyn at 6:28 AM on January 13, 2005

from my sister who is happy to have a chance to use her new criminal justice degree "I am pretty sure that in some cases if somebody has no hands they will use either toe prints or tongue prints, both of which are individual biometric measures. I don't know if they put them on the same card or not, though. I think what the put on the card is something along the line of "no fingerprints present"
posted by jessamyn at 6:54 AM on January 13, 2005

second email "You note on the card either "AMP" for amputation or "MIB" for missing at birth. However, there is not really a national standard on this, so the above is the FBI standard. And you didn't ask but I will throw in for free -- if somebody has more than 10 fingers, you simply print the dominant five. So you do the thumb and the next four sequential fingers. The extra ones don't get printed. Webbed fingers get rolled together, if possible. Otherwise it is noted on the card."
posted by jessamyn at 7:03 AM on January 13, 2005

Response by poster: Huh. I didn't even think about deformed fingers or hands. Thanks!
posted by spinifex23 at 9:10 AM on January 13, 2005