Microscopes are widely used in police laboratories, more particularly in the field of forensics science. A lot of complex stereomicroscopes have been designed to the many police laboratory facilities throughout the U.S. mainly for fingerprint inspection and comparison purposes.

Comparison microscopy is the concept used to analyze two specimens side by side. Sometimes, comparison microscopes are called stereomicroscopes or dissecting microscopes. But what it really looked like is a dual microscope with a single binocular eyepiece that has two sets of objective lenses and stage. When users look into its eyepiece, they would have a split view of two windows, one for each sample.

This is the type of microscope primarily used in the field of forensic science. It is the device employed to compare two microscopic patterns like in fingerprint examinations. With the use of a comparison microscope, a person’s fingerprint can be scrutinized, allowing investigators to accurately deny or identify their exact origin.

Generally, the concept of comparison microscopy is very simple. As described earlier, there were two microscopes connected to a single optical bridge. And because of that, forensic examiners are able to compare a maximum of two specimens simultaneously. Therefore, they do not need to remember what one specimen looks like. Also, they won’t need to constantly take out one sample and replace it with the other just to compare them. Examiners are not going to need a capturing device even. All they have to do is to look through the eye piece and observe the two samples all at the same time. Comparison microscopy makes it very simple.

Fingerprinting has been used in forensic science as a helpful way to prove or disprove a person’s involvement in a certain crime. A fingerprint is the impression of the ridges of one or all the fingers of a particular person. It has been long proven that a person’s fingerprint is different from another person. And so it becomes safe to conclude that a fingerprint the can be used as a good way to identify the identity of a particular person.

Ballistic fingerprinting is slightly different concept though. Ballistic fingerprinting is the method used to pinpoint the particular gun used in a certain crime by matching the striation of the bullets with the barrel of the rifle from where it is supposed to be fired. Another method of proving that is to match the marks on the cases of the cartridge with the marks produced in the breech and chamber.

These are the two most common applications of comparison microscopy, as far as fingerprinting is concerned. Fingerprints are very small elements. While they are visible to the naked eye, it is impossible to determine with full accuracy if the fingerprint recovered in the scene of crime matches a particular suspect. The intricate details and the curves of a person’s fingerprint have to be studied carefully so that there would be absolutely no errors in the process of identification. Errors in identification would lead to false arrests and unrecoverable legal damages.

The same is true with ballistic fingerprinting. When a certain person had fired a shot and both the bullet and the gun were recovered, it becomes easy for arresting police officers to identify which of the suspects had actually fired the gun. And with that information, it would be easy for them to give them a heavier charge than the others. Ballistic fingerprinting is done in conjunction with regular fingerprinting. And to do it correctly, it is important that a high quality comparison microscope be used. The techniques of comparison microscopy should also be implemented to do it right.

Comparison microscopy allows for the trace proof and evidence comparisons that are widely done inside a forensic science laboratory. A comparison microscope is equipped with a comparison bridge that enables an exact comparison of two specimens. Consequently, comparison microscopy provides for a highly reliable corroboration of even the slightest of difference between the samples in terms of color, texture, as well as microstructure.

A complex comparison microscope is what criminology laboratories require. There are comparison microscopes that are trinocular in structure so that a video or a still image capture device can be connected to it. There are also versions that allows for left and right samples full-field observation or a half-field side-by-side comparison view of the samples. A two color superposed observation of samples is also possible with a good comparison microscope.

Basically, this is how fingerprinting and comparison microscopy works. With the development of comparison microscopes in this area, the work of criminology experts becomes simple.