09-23-2015, 08:19 PM
testcase wrote:
"I vaguely remember a film (or TV show?)"
Copying fingerprints was done in a "Charlie Chan" movie. A prison trustee had access to fingerprint files and, got prints smuggled out, to facilitate framing ex-cons so the real gang of thieves would not be caught.
I should have been more specific: I recall a rubber "hand" being used with the new fingerprints on it. I'm sure it's been thought of long before the movie I recall, and it was not Charlie Chan.