Anthopometric Measures Set for Criminal Identification

A very rare set to take anthropometric measures for the criminal identification, based on the theory of Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914). Such kind of set was in use by the French Gendarmeries.

In 1882 Bertillon presented a criminal identification system known as anthropometry but later also known as bertillonage in honor of its creator. In this system the person was identified by body measurement of the head and body, individual markings - tattoos, scars - and personality characteristics. The measurements were made into a formula that would apply only on one person and would not change. He used it in 1884 to identify 241 multiple offenders, and the system was quickly adopted widely by American and British police forces. Part of its benefit was that by arranging the records carefully, it would be very easy to sift through a large number of records quickly given a few measurements from the person to be identified. While it might not always give an exact match, it would allow one to narrow the pool of possible people and then to compare the person with a photograph.

The system was eventually found to be flawed, however, because often two different officers made their measurements in slightly different ways and would not obtain the same numbers. Measurements could also change as the criminal aged. It also could identify two individuals as the same person, unlike fingerprinting. In 1903, the system was discredited when a man named Will West arrested in Kansas was found to be a previously arrested man with anthropometrics, but fingerprinting contradicted this.

The system was widely used by French police and in other European countries. In France it was popular enough that it was widely used even after the advent of fingerprinting. One audacious member of the Bonnot gang sent police his fingerprints because he knew they did not have them, just his physical measurements.