History Main / FingerPrintingAir

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'':
** Was able to pull ''[=DNA=]'' from a fingerprint. In "For Warrick," Ecklie notes that no one has ever pulled a successful print off an object as small as the small-caliber bullet in question and all the team members look at each other as if to say "A challenge!"
*** As happens with technological advances, extracting DNA from fingerprints eventually turned out to be possible. In fact, by the time ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' premiered four years after the original series, it was so prevalent that the NY Lab did it fairly regularly. In one instance the suspect's prints weren't in any database, but they got DNA from their 10-card to solve the case.
** Warrick himself once boasted that he could get a fingerprint from air, which as in the trope introduction is [[TropeNamers where this gets its name]].
** They subverted this in one episode - a cleanly lifted print in an old case is shown to be fabricated because there was no way that it could have been lifted from the surface claimed (an alligator-skin wallet).
* One episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' had an interesting variation; the fingerprints on the weapon matched a rape ''victim'' from a previous crime that the tech hadn't deleted. The tech ended up losing her job, and yes, the victim was the new perp.
* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had one episode where the print was pulled from the victim's skin by degloving the hands and putting the fingertip skin over the investigator's finger like a glove. This is another thing that actually is sometimes used in real life, and was done on at least one of the sister shows as well.

On the other hand, if it's not the kind of show where science saves the day, the best crime scene team in the world isn't going to find a single print. ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', in 35 years, only had three cases broken by fingerprints. (In one, it was prints on the ''insides'' of gloves. One where the gun used was wiped of prints but not the bullets.)

** One episode had all power cut to NCIS (and most of Washington) as part of a break-in. Along with CODIS going down leaving Abby needing to manually distil plasma for the victim's bloodwork, it also knocks out access to AFIS and she, Ziva, Tony and McGee have to match fingerprints manually from index cards. It takes all night.

** Another episode saw the Victim of the Week killed in a public restroom. They found so many prints that Abby stopped running them through AFIS

* In ''Film/FastFive'', Tej is able to lift a full hand print off of a bikini, and it's good enough to get through a high end scanner.

** In the DS-only parts of the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' series (i.e. the 5th case of the first game and the 2nd case in the fourth, ''Apollo Justice'') you must at time dust for fingerprints. The series, however, subverts this trope by having the fingerprinting be mostly realistic. Not only do you not get usable print a lot of the time, but you're shown, and have to do, the entire process, from finding a usable spot, finding a print within that spot, then comparing the prints to those in file, so it doesn't feel like the process is magically down with some magic bottle of dust. The list of fingerprints you compare the lifted print to also only contains those tied to case, subverting the common unrealistic tread in crime dramas of comparing it to a large database. The only unrealistic aspect is how easily prints are lifted; however, this can be seen as an AcceptableBreakFromReality, since it would be tedious and long as hell to realistically lift the prints.

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Batman is able to get fingerprints from a bullet by removing the piece of wall which it had hit, using a computer program to reassemble the bullet, and get a fingerprint from THAT. Never mind that the fragments would probably be warped, or that the impact and friction would have utterly destroyed any semblance of a fingerprint and that a fingerprint left on a bullet could not possibly become '''etched into the concrete''', Batman is [[RuleOfCool just that goddamn awesome]].

* The ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' has Batman use his Detective Vision as an EverythingSensor to analyze and find clues in crime scenes, sometimes to put together pieces of the puzzle and solve a mystery, but often to find some method to track someone through the environment. ''Arkham Asylum'' was especially bad about using this trope, at one point he tracked a corrupt security officer across the compound via traces of bourbon in the air. ''Arkham City'' is slightly better about this, such as using multiple impact points to trace the origin of a sniper's bullet, although the convenience of certain clues was a little suspicious. It is mostly averted by ''Arkham Origins'' as, while maybe better than real life, several sequences involve a "scrubbing" mode where he uses realistic evidence (scuff marks, bullet entry angles, explosive patterns) to recreate crime scenes in three dimensional space, allowing him to locate vital evidence missed by the police.

* One episode of the live-action ''Series/{{Zorro|1957}}'' show had Zorro invent fingerprinting. He investigates the Alcalde's (Mayor's) office in an episode where the Alcalde is acting strangely: rescinding unpopular decrees one moment, then punishing people for violating the decree they were just told was rescinded the next. He finds two sets of fingerprints in the Alcalde's private office (which he presumably doesn't let other people into), leading him to realize that there are two Alcaldes, eventually leading to a SpotTheImposter moment in a public duel against both Alcaldes. Subversion in that the fingerprints were only used to confirm that there ''was'' an imposter, but not to identify the imposter. That was done by Zorro pointing out that the real Alcalde had a [[RevealingInjury scar on the back of his wrist]] from a previous fight with him and cutting the sleeves of both Alcaldes to see which one had the scar.

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[[folder:{{Film}}]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* One episode of the live-action ''Series/{{Zorro}}'' show had Zorro invent fingerprinting. He investigates the Alcalde's (Mayor's) office in an episode where the Alcalde is acting strangely: rescinding unpopular decrees one moment, then punishing people for violating the decree they were just told was rescinded the next. He finds two sets of fingerprints in the Alcalde's private office (which he presumably doesn't let other people into), leading him to realize that there are two Alcaldes, eventually leading to a SpotTheImposter moment in a public duel against both Alcaldes. Subversion in that the fingerprints were only used to confirm that there ''was'' an imposter, but not to identify the imposter That was done by Zorro pointing out that the real Alcalde had a [[RevealingInjury scar on the back of his wrist]] from a previous fight with him and cutting the sleeves of both Alcaldes to see which one had the scar.

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
** In the DS-only parts of the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' series (i.e. the 5th case of the first game and the 2nd case in the fourth, ''Apollo Justice'') you must at time dust for fingerprints. The series, however, subverts this trope by having the fingerprinting be mostly realistic. Not only do you not get usable print a lot of the time, but you're shown, and have to do, the entire process, from finding a usable spot, finding a print within that spot, then comparing the prints to those in file, so it doesn't feel like the process is magically down with some magic bottle of dust. The list of fingerprints you compare the lifted print to also only contains those tied to case, subverting the common unrealistic tread in crime dramas of comparing it to a large database. The only unrealistic aspect is how easily prints are lifted; however, this can be seen as an AcceptableBreakFromReality, since it would be tedious and long as hell to realistically lift the prints.
** Whenever prints are lifted from a piece of evidence that wouldn't normally hold prints, there's always almost always an explanation; For example, [[spoiler:Juniper Woods']] fingerprints were found on a stuffed animal's tail because it happened to be made of vinyl. And [[spoiler:Ema Skye's]] fingerprints were found on a piece of cloth because the jacket it was cut from was made out of leather.
** As shown above, an inverted example comes in episode 2 of the third game. When defending a client for the larceny of an urn, Phoenix ends up cornering the real thief due to his own fingerprints being on the urn. The urn was vigorously polished after it was secured at a exhibition, and the only time after that that he had to get his prints onto the urn was when he was feeling around inside a bag that was sitting in [[spoiler:Luke Atmey's]] office. Therefore his prints prove that the urn was at [[spoiler:Atmey's]] office between it being stolen and then found. [[spoiler:This comes back to massively bite Phoenix in the butt later on when it's discovered that a murder occurred at the exact same time as the theft. Phoenix basically just proved the bad guy has an airtight alibi. Oops.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' the police are able to get prints off of '''cloth''', Adachi is amazed at it.

[[folder: WebAnimation]]
* Parodied in ''WebAnimation/GEOWeasel'', where Weas manages to incriminate Mitri's {{imaginary friend}} by finding imaginary fingerprints.

[[folder: WesternAnimation]]
* In an episode of the 1980s ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' TV series, a television detective mentions she can get fingerprints off a pizza crust. Even to a child that seemed off somehow.
* Played with in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' where Broadway accidentally shoots Eliza with her gun. The police are able to pull a complete set of prints off it, but dismiss them as being "so badly smudged [[{{Irony}} they didn't even look human]]."

[[folder: Real Life]]

* One puzzle in ''VideoGame/FindTheCure!'' involves lifting a fingerprint off of a mop handle in order to bypass a fingerprint scanner.

* There actually is a Real Life fingerprint database, to which everyone trying to enlist in the US Armed Forces must give their prints. The list is massive (millions of prints) and is probably what was referenced by the NCIS database matches. This is actually saved for uses of identification, due to the many things that may happen to a soldier, Marine, airman, or sailor that could leave otherwise unrecognizable. Whether or not it's used for criminal cases is unknown, but likely.
** People applying for a security clearance also have to provide fingerprints (Among other things). Many occupations also require fingerprinting, such as those handling large amounts of cash (the CSI example with casinos, for instance), handling/dispensing prescription drugs, or selling firearms. These prints are almost certainly checked against criminal records as part of the clearance process.

*** As happens with technological advances, extracting DNA from fingerprints eventually turned out to be possible. In fact, by the time "NY" premiered 4 yrs after "Vegas," it was so prevalent that the NY Lab did it fairly regularly. In one instance the suspect's prints weren't in any database, but they got DNA from their 10-card to solve the case.
** Warrick himself once boasted that he could get a fingerprint from air.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had one episode where the print was pulled from the victim's skin by degloving the hands and putting the fingertip skin over the investigator's finger like a glove. This is another thing that actually is sometimes used in real life. (This was done on at least one of the sister shows as well.)

* Averted in ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}''. When Sam is annoyed because a body has been moved before it's been fingerprinted, his 1970's colleagues are bemused because the technology to take fingerprints off skin hasn't been invented yet.

Fingerprinting in the real world is not quite so easy, but there are one or two places where the shows catch a break. ''Series/{{CSI}}'' benefits from being set in Las Vegas, where the largest employers (the casinos) require employees to register with the gaming commission. Similarly, ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' and it's ilk can make use of the fact that all military personnel have their fingerprints taken when they join up. The use of superglue fumes to process latent fingerprints is, surprisingly, quite real. While not quite so miraculous as it appears on TV, it certainly must have seemed that way when it was first discovered. Incidentally, it replaced the older Ninhydrin process after the chemicals used in that process were discovered to cause cancer.

* Subverted by ''Film/InsideMan'', where they find many fingerprints, but quickly realize that all any of them prove is that the dozens of suspects were all at the bank that day

In the real world, an examiner looks at a list of possible matches generated from the database -- computer pattern matching is much more basic and can contain lots of false positives. Also, mistakes are possible, albeit rare. In 2005, three experienced FBI examiners mis-identified Brandon Mayfield as a suspect in the Madrid Bombings. A fourth expert hired by the court went along with the results. The mistake later came to light when the Spanish authorities disagreed with the result.

Fingerprinting in the real world is not quite so easy, but there are one or two places where the shows catch a break. ''Series/{{CSI}}'' benefits from being set in Las Vegas, where the largest employers (the casinos) require employees to register with the gaming commission. The use of superglue fumes to process latent fingerprints is, surprisingly, quite real. While not quite so miraculous as it appears on TV, it certainly must have seemed that way when it was first discovered. Incidentally, it replaced the older Ninhydrin process after the chemicals used in that process were discovered to cause cancer.

[=DNA=] works the same way as fingerprints. Anything the perp has licked, touched, or sweat on can incriminate them. In real life, suitable [=DNA=] for comparison is harder to get, comparisons takes days, not minutes, the labs that perform the comparison are often backlogged for months or more, and the percentage of people listed in CODIS is very small indeed. Until the past few years, DNA comparisons were impossible without a very large sample, and the technology to compare small samples is still of limited availability.