Alphonse+Bertillon

In 1882 Alphonse Bertillon created a criminal identification system known as anthopometry. Anthopometry was later named Bertillonage in honor of him. This system identified people by measurement of the head and body, individual markings, tattoos, scars, and personality characteristics. The measurements were made into a formula that would only apply to one person and couldn't change. In 1884 he used it to identify 241 offenders. Anthopometry was picked up by police forces in the U.S. and Great Britain. The basic benefit of this was being able to go through files quickly and be able to identify people by just a few simple measurements. This allowed officers to narrow the suspects down to a small pool. The system was found to be flawed later, because two different officers would often make their measurements in different ways and would not obtain the same numbers.