Bertillon System

Toward the close of the 19th century, police agencies worldwide developed innovative scientific methods to help combat crime. Chief among these techniques were classification systems designed to measure and catalog physical, psychological, and social characteristics collected from criminal offenders. Of the many early forays into biometric data analysis, the Bertillon system is perhaps the best-known and most widespread.

The Bertillon system derives its name from its inventor, Alphonse Bertillon (April 24, 1853-February 13, 1914). While working for the police department in his native Paris, Bertillon developed a system to measure, photograph, and categorize offenders. The system Bertillon devised relied on what was then known as anthropometrics, a set of very precise anatomical measurements intended to uniquely identify an individual. Modern incarnations of this same approach are commonly referred to as biometrics.

This class was learning the Bertillon method of criminal identification in Paris, France, between 1910 and 1915. The photographs on the wall were called portrait parles, now known as mug shots. Two of French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon's great contributions to the field were the standardization of criminal mug shots and the development of systematic crime scene photography; his general approach to systematic recordkeeping continues to influence law enforcement practices to this day.

As print technology evolved in the late 19th century, police departments began to keep photographic records of suspects and convicted offenders (mug shots). These so-called rogues’ galleries [Page 116]were often little more than disorganized collections of known ruffians with little probative or investigatory value. What the Bertillon system did was to augment and organize these collections along structured and orderly principles. Two especially lasting contributions made by Bertillon were standardization of criminal mug shots (dimensioned front and profile views) as well as systematic crime scene photography. In the latter instance, Bertillon devised a process of “metric photography” for the purpose of reconstructing the dimensions of a particular space and the placement of objects in it.

A New York City police officer practicing taking Bertillon measurements of a subject's ear around 1908. There were 15 pages of instructions on ear measurement in the first English translation of Bertillon's original work.