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 Fingerprint breakthrough offers new forensic evidence

This story is from the category Sensors
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Date posted: 05/08/2011

A technology to extract fingerprints from a crime scene could show if a criminal suspect has taken drugs or been in contact with explosives.

Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have developed a way to capture fingerprints that can identify substances touched, and secretions from a person's body. This could provide new information about a suspect's actions and habits. Scientists hope the technology will be available to police within three years.

A fingermark contains not only a pattern of ridges, but also material from the skin surface and human gland secretions. Current police methods can only scan the ridge pattern to compare with database records.

This has limited value, according to lead author Dr Simona Francese: "Someone with a clean criminal record won't be found, and the print can often be distorted."

The new method takes multiple images of a print from many different surfaces, using a technology called Mass Spectrometry Imaging to produce a detailed chemical signature.

See the full Story via external site: www.bbc.co.uk



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