Fingerprinting Merit Badge
Six requirements, with the two ways of taking prints at requirement 4 drawn as a choice and fed into identifying the patterns on your own hand.
7 steps (7 parts inside them). 2 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 8 October 2026 · About Fingerprinting Merit Badge
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the question at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.
Which of this applies to you
You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering one question will take out the parts that are not for you.
The steps
Stage 1 of 7
1 step
Stage 2 of 7
1 step
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2. Identification systems Requirement
Law enforcement and access-control fingerprint systems, and identification by tokens, passwords and biometrics.
Stage 3 of 7
1 step
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3. The science of fingerprints Requirement
Where ridges are found, the two principles behind the science, and what a positive identification takes.
Stage 4 of 7
1 step
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4. Take a clear set of prints. ONE method Requirement
The badge states the choice: rolled and plain impressions on a card, or tape and pencil.
2 parts
Stage 5 of 7
1 step
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5. Identify the three pattern types, and the ones on your hand Requirement
The three basic types and their subcategories, then the patterns on your own hand.
Stage 6 of 7
1 step
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6. Three careers in biometrics or fingerprinting, one researched Requirement
Training, certification, costs, prospects and salary for one, discussed with your counselor.
Stage 7 of 7
1 step
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Counselor signs it off Milestone
The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.
Usually comes after 1. A short history, and civil versus criminal identification, 2. Identification systems and 4 others.
Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.