On the Prospects of Latent MasterPrints

Abstract

Latent fingerprints are the prime evidence for forensic officers investigating a criminal case. Subsequently, the legislative procedure considers the forensic department’s reports as authentic document to support their judgment. Hence, an automated latent fingerprint identification system must produce accurate results to ensure only culprits are punished instead of innocent individuals. Recent research confirmed the existence of a MasterPrint as a partial fingerprint identifying more than four distinct subjects enrolled with the database. Usually, latent fingerprints are partial impressions, i.e. fingerprints cover small portion of full finger. Hence, it presents a scope to examine the possibility of a Latent MasterPrint. We investigate the feasibility of the Latent MasterPrint in this article using the Multi-sensor Optical and Latent Fingerprint (MOLF) DB4 dataset. The identification results using the NIST Biometric Image Software (NBIS) reveal the possibility of Latent MasterPrints. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.