NCJ Number
213062
Journal
Journal of Forensic Identification Volume: 56 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2006 Pages: 33-54
Date Published
January 2006
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study compared Oil Red O and the physical developer method on three types of wet porous surfaces--white standard paper, brown kraft paper, and thermal paper--for their effectiveness in recovering fingerprints.
Abstract
Overall, the findings indicated the superiority of Oil Red O to physical developer in recovering quality fingerprints from wet white standard paper and wet thermal paper. On the wet brown kraft paper, the recovered fingerprint quality did not differ significantly between the two methods. The results suggest the efficacy of using Oil Red O for the treatment of wet porous surfaces in laboratory settings. Research methods for this study involved depositing fingerprints onto each of the three sheets of paper, which were divided into three sections each. Fingerprints were created by wiping the fingers across the forehead and placing them on the test papers. An hour after deposition, the papers were placed in tap water at room temperature for 2 hours. Each of the papers was then cut down the middle, half were tested using the Oil Red O method and half were tested using the physical developer method. Future research will investigate other recovery methods in a sequential order with the goal of finding the most favorable series for the recovery of fingerprints from wet porous surfaces. Figures, tables, references, appendix