Did you ever wonder how criminals were identified before modern forensics? Right here at the Alphonse Bertillon Plaque we honor a pioneer in that field. Alphonse Bertillon revolutionized criminal identification. He was a French criminologist and anthropologue.
Bertillon was born in Paris. He died there too. He started as a clerk at the Paris Prefecture of Police in 1879. He faced the challenge of identifying repeat offenders. Bertillon then created a system. It was an anthropometric identification system. It became known as bertillonage.
The Alphonse Bertillon Plaque is a tribute to his work. Bertillon coupled body measurements with judicial photography. This changed how criminals were identified. By 1893 he developed standardized judicial photography. He also started centralized criminal record files. He systematically collected fingerprints.
Bertillon’s method involved measuring fourteen body parts. These included height and foot length. Measurements also included hand and ear size. He measured forearm length and nose ridge. The distance between the eyes was recorded. Bertillon used calipers and cephalic pincers. He calculated a tiny chance of finding identical measurements in another person. This was about one in 286 million. Only prison informants and experts could identify repeat offenders back then.
Bertillon’s system emerged when repeat offenders filled half of France’s prisons. This led to the Relégation Law. Police adopted the Bertillon system hesitantly in 1883. One police chief saw Bertillon as mentally unstable. However in 1884 a new chief gave Bertillon three months to test his method. On February 20th 1884 the system identified a repeat offender for the first time.
A Bureau of Identification was created in 1883. Specialized equipment was used in prisons. This included tables stools and measuring devices. Fingerprint tools were also provided. Identification files were compiled in the Bulletin of Criminal Police. This was set up by the Sûreté Générale.
The Bertillon system included measurements and face profile photos. It also used descriptive information. This was called a spoken portrait. Physical marks were noted like scars or tattoos. The system gained fame with Ravachol’s bertillonage in 1890. This led to the anarchist’s arrest two years later.
The Bureau of Identification merged with photography and judicial services. It formed the Judicial Identity service. This was founded by presidential decree in 1893. Bertillon believed his anthropometric method was superior. He resisted adding fingerprints to records.
In 1894 superiors pressured him to include dactyloscopy or fingerprinting. He started with four fingers of the right hand plus the left index finger. By 1904 all ten fingerprints were included. This fingerprint technique helped solve a murder case in 1902. Henri-Léon Scheffer was identified as a murderer through fingerprints. This case is debated. Some say a prior investigation led Bertillon to Scheffer not just the fingerprints.
During the Dreyfus affair Bertillon testified against Dreyfus. Despite not being a handwriting expert he claimed Dreyfus wrote the incriminating document. His analysis was later discredited. Mathematicians criticized his probability calculations. They rejected his self-forgery theory as delusional. The press mocked Bertillon calling him crazy.
Alphonse Bertillon died in Paris on February 13 1914. He is buried at Père Lachaise cemetery. A street in Paris is named after him. Bertillon’s methods were adopted by police worldwide. He was the most famous policeman until fingerprint classification surpassed his system. The Alphonse Bertillon Plaque commemorates his lasting impact.