Breakthrough in Fingerprints Use

Breakthrough in Fingerprints Use

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The new technique needs to be extensively tested on real crimes scenes, before it can be used in prosecutions.

27705044_m featureDutch forensic experts claimed to have discovered how to accurately date fingerprints, a breakthrough that could one day let police date crime scene prints from years ago.

Fingerprints leave nearly-unique marks on a surface that can be copied and compared to a database to identify a suspect, a police technique that rose to prominence in the early 1900s.

The prints themselves are made up of sweat and grease, including a complex mix of cholesterol, amino acids and proteins.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

“The chemicals in these fingerprints can be analysed,” said one of the experts “Some disappear over time and it’s the relative proportions of these chemicals that allow us to date a fingerprint.” 

The new technique needs to be extensively tested on real crimes scenes, leading to the creation of a database, before it can be used in prosecutions, hopefully “within a year”, De Puit said.

As the database expands, so should the technique’s reliability, allowing police to date fingerprints from several years before.