Latent Fingermark Longevity on Non-porous Surfaces in Tap and Salt Water Environments

Fingermarks that have been immersed in water may be difficult to retrieve, given the solubility of eccrine based secretions. Latent fingermark that are contaminated with insoluble contaminants may trap eccrine based constituents, leading to successful recovery of such fingermarks on non-porous surfaces. Iron Oxide Wet Powder Suspension (IOWPS) and Cyanoacrylate fuming (CA) were used to develop sebaceous rich fingermarks deposited onto glass slides following immersion into salt and tap water environments for up to 28 days. A grading system was used to assess the quality of the marks. Fingermark quality was affected by immersion time and the development technique used. IOWPS produced higher quality fingermarks than CA fuming following submergence of sebaceous rich fingermarks on glass for up to 7 days. After this CA fuming provided fingermarks that were of an increased quality, and in many instances IOWPS failed to develop any fingermarks.