EARPRINTS
First there were fingerprints, then came DNA profiling to aid the police in finding criminals. And now we’ve gone one step further still: earprints.
British police have begun putting together a database of criminals earprints.
Just like fingerprints, no two ear lobe prints are exactly the same, and earprints can be found with remarkable ease at many crimes sites.
Unwary burglars often leave an earprint when listening at windows and doors before they commit their crime.
Roger Summers, head of Derbyshire Police’s scientific support unit, admits that it is not foolproof.
“Nobody has been convicted purely on earprint evidence. It may be that earprints will not stand up in court in the same way as fingerprints, but they could be useful corroborative evidence,” he says.
(Taken from Speak Up # 134)
GLOSSARY:
lobe = lóbulo
remarkable = notável
unwary = descuidado
foolproof = infalível
corroborative = corroborativo
The modal verbs, underlined in the text, are expressing, respectively:
