Fingerprinting Reliably Establishes Identity

It was appalling to read Simon Cole’s absurd diatribe about fingerprinting (“Fingerprinting: a Black Mark,” Commentary, Jan. 7). Fingerprinting has nothing whatsoever to do with race. It seems that academics, with little real-world knowledge, will morph any issue to play the race card. Fingerprints individuate people, without regard to any other physical descriptors whatsoever.

The General Accounting Office, the National Institute for Science and Technology and the FBI are all on record that fingerprints are the most reliable biometric for determining the true identity of persons. Fingerprints help the police positively identify persons who have committed crimes and help them exonerate the innocent.

In this world of rampant identity theft and international terrorism, thank God there is virtually a foolproof method (fingerprints) to prove who you really are, to the exclusion of anyone else. In order to avoid chaos, we will need to incorporate more use of fingerprinting in the coming years, consistent with civil liberties protections, to positively authenticate driver’s licenses (the breeder document for most other kinds of identification), financial and credit card transactions and international travel and immigration documents.

This will, of course, need vigorous public debate. But politically correct insertion of irrelevant race issues does not serve the public interest.

Joseph P. Bonino

Commanding Officer (Ret.)

Records and Identification

Division, Los Angeles

Police Department