Abstract
The Electrostatic Detection Apparatus (ESDA) has been a valuable tool for document examiners to use in the examination and decipherment of indented writing impressions. The inventors of the ESDA and articles published on this examination techniques have repeated that this is a non-destructive procedure. It has been observed that when the ESDA is used on documents containing original pencil writing, a small amount of the pencil writing is sometimes transferred from the paper to the back of the polymer film that is used in this process. Using eight different types of pencils on four different types of paper, densitometer measurements were taken before and after ESDA processing. It was found that various percentages of loss occurred on the different samples. In light of these minimal alterations to the original pencil writings on the test documents, it appears appropriate to refine past statements that the ESDA is non-destructive to all documents. The value of what document examiners sometimes discover in indented writing impressions would seem to outweigh the minimal loss of pencil on the original document. This aspect could be offset by photographing documents containing pencil writings prior to ESDA processing.
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