The Empire,the police,and the introduction of fingerprint technology in Malta

Abstract

It required more than three decades for fingerprint technology, invented in the British colony of India, to reach the British colony of Malta. Fingerprint technology was not institutionalized in Malta until 1932 owing to a different social context; British colonial authorities tended to see the Maltese as Europeans and never regarded crime prevention as a priority. Nevertheless, a review of policing in Malta in the 19th and early 20th centuries supports the thesis that fingerprint-based identification was invented to maintain surveillance over `otherness'. Although the colonial situation in Malta did not produce anything like the Criminal Tribes Act in British India, the introduction of fingerprint technology coincided with concern over foreign residents. Fingerprint technology became institutionalized following enactment of the Aliens Act in 1899 and formation of a detective and alien branch within the police organization. The diffusion of knowledge within the British Empire did not operate in a predictable direction. Rather, knowledge arising in one colony spread to others, as well as to England, channelled by familiar prejudices as much as scientific discovery.