Enhancement of latent fingerprints on the adhesive side of tapes using various methods.

Abstract

Fingerprints are well known to be an important aspect of a criminal investigation due to their ability to identify an individual. Today, there are numerous methods to enhancing latent fingerprints. Some of these methods were performed on the adhesive side of various types of tapes in order to determine which method produced the greatest print development. The methods used were: dusting using various powders, small particle reagent (SPR), crystal violet, and cyanoacrylate fuming. Only two of the techniques used preformed well across a majority of the tapes. Even though all of the techniques did not preform well on all of the tapes they gave some valuable information that could be used to better results. The most successful techniques were the cyanoacrylate fuming and crystal violet. Both of these methods developed prints that were detailed with superior contrast compared to the other methods performed. Even though both techniques were superior, the cyanoacrylate fuming developed the higher quality prints. The cyanoacrylate fuming performed greatest when fumed with water for humidity followed by a dusting of fingerprint powder. These two methods were both simple to perform and were completed within a timely manner. Overall, the cyanoacrylate fuming could be preformed more efficiently because multiple prints could be developed at one time.