| anthropometry | Developed by Alphonse Bertillon in the late 19th century, the study and comparison of body measurements as a means of criminal identification.
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| Bertillon, Alphonse | Recognized worldwide as the father of personal identification; he developed anthropometry.
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| Bobbies | A colloquial term used in reference to British police constables; derived by the public from the first name of Sir Robert Peel, whose efforts led to the creation of the first metropolitan police force in London.
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| Bow Street Runners | Established by Henry Fielding in 1748, a group of volunteer, nonuniformed home owners who helped catch thieves in London by rushing to crime scenes and beginning investigations, thus acting as the first modern detective force. By 1785, some were paid government detectives.
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| dactylography | The study and comparison of fingerprints as a means of criminal identification; first used systematically for that purpose in England in 1900, but a means of identification since the first century.
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| deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) | A nucleic acid consisting of the molecules that carry the body's genetic material and establish each person as separate and distinct.
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| Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) | Created in 1973, this federal agency is responsible for enforcing laws on illicit drugs and fighting international drug traffic; also trains state and local police in investigative work regarding illegal drugs, surveillance, and use of informants.
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| Enderby cases | Two rape-murder cases in England that involved the first use of DNA typing, in 1987, in a criminal case. DNA samples recovered from both victims led to the release of an innocent man and the subsequent arrest and conviction of the killer.
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| Fielding, Henry | Chief Magistrate of Bow Street in London beginning in 1748. In 1750, he formed a group of volunteer, non-uniformed homeowners, who hurried to the scene of crimes to investigate them. These "Bow Street Runners" were the first modern detective unit. In 1752, he created The Covent Garden Journal, which circulated the descriptions of wanted persons.
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| Fielding, John | The brother of Henry Fielding. Following Henry's death in 1754, John carried on his work for 25 years, making Bow Street a clearing house for crime information.
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| forensic science | The examination, evaluation, and explanation of physical evidence in terms of law.
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| Galton, Francis | Galton published, in 1892, the first definitive book on dactylography, Finger Prints, which presented statistical proof of their uniqueness and many principles of identification by fingerprints. Charles Darwin's cousin.
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| Girard, Stephen | Bequeathed $33,190 to Philadelphia to develop a competent police force. In 1833, the city passed an ordinance creating America's first paid daytime police department.
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| Goddard, Calvin | A U.S. World War I veteran and physician, he is widely considered to be most responsible for raising firearms identification to a science and for perfecting the bullet comparison microscope.
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| Goddard, Henry | One of the last Bow Street Runners, who in 1835 made the first successful identification of a murderer by studying a bullet recovered from a murder victim. In the case, a bullet mold with a noticeable defect was found at the suspect's home; this defect corresponded to a defect found on the recovered bullet.
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| Gross, Hans | Austrian prosecutor who wrote the first major book on the application of science to investigation in 1893.
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| investigator | An official who gathers, documents, and evaluates evidence and information in the investigation of a crime.
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| Kirk, Paul | A biochemist, educator, and criminalist; wrote Criminal Investigation in 1953; helped to develop the careers of many criminalists.
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| Lattes, Leone | Made a key discovery in forensic serology in 1915, which permits blood typing from a dried blood stain.
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| Locard, Edmond | Researcher interested in microscopic evidence; all crime sense today comes under the presumption of Locard's Principle—that there is something to be found.
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| Metropolitan Police Act (1829) | An act of Parliament that created the London Metropolitan Police, the first centralized, professional police force in Britain, which soon became the international model of professional policing.
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| Mulberry Street Morning Parade | Instituted by Chief Detective Thomas Byrnes in New York City in the late 1800s, an innovative approach to criminal identification in which all new arrestees were marched each morning before detectives so that the detectives could make notes and later recognize the criminals.
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| National Crime Information Center (NCIC) | The FBI's online system of extensive databases on criminals and crime; available to federal, state, and local agencies.
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| Osborn, Albert | In 1910, wrote Questioned Documents, still considered one of the definitive works on document examinations.
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| palo verde seedpod case | A 1992 murder case in Phoenix, Arizona in which DNA analysis of plant evidence was used for the first time in criminal proceedings to help secure a conviction.
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| Peel, Robert | A colloquial term used in reference to British police constables; derived by the public from the first name of Sir Robert Peel, whose efforts led to the creation of the first metropolitan police force in London.
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| Pinkerton, Allan | Formed the Pinkertons in 1850 along with Edward Rucker; the only consistently competent detectives in the United States for over 50 years.
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| “police spies” | In early nineteenth-century England, a derogatory term used in reference to plainclothes detectives; coined by persons who feared that the use of such officers would reduce civil liberties.
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| Popay, Sergeant | Dismissed from London's Metropolitan Police in 1833 for infiltrating a radical group and advocating the use of violence after he acquired a leadership position. Today, we would call Popay's call for violence entrapment.
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| rogues' gallery | Instituted by the New York City Police Department in 1857, a display in which photographs of known offenders were arranged by criminal specialty and height for detectives to study so that they might recognize criminals on the street.
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| Scotland Yard | The original headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police, so-called because the building formerly housed Scottish royalty. Since 1890, the headquarters have been located elsewhere, but have been still known as New Scotland Yard.
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| Vollmer, August | Often thought of as an administrator, Vollmer's other contributions are towering: he helped John Larson develop the first workable polygraph in 1921 and established in Los Angeles in 1923 America's first full forensic laboratory.
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| Vucetich, Juan | Worked on the use of fingerprints in Argentina. In 1894, he published his own book on the subject, Dactiloscopia Comparada.
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| West case | A 1903 incident in which two criminals with the same name, identical appearances, and nearly identical measurements were distinguished only by fingerprints, thus significantly advancing the use of fingerprints for identification in the United States.
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