Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2012 | Page 56

STEVENSON UNIVERSITY

EXPERIMENT #2 - SEBACEOUS OIL

CONCLUSION

Experiment #2 included the use of sebaceous oil as a depositing
medium by Donor 3. Sebaceous residue was obtained by the donor
wiping his/her fingertips across their face and hair prior to each
deposit. The test results demonstrate that paper-packaging material
does not have any noticeable effect on the quality of the prints. There
is no indication from this set of data that print quality is affected by
either the passage of time or from the use of paper packaging material.

As with all latent print experiments, the present research was difficult to conduct in a manner that would ameliorate the introduction
of any external variables. While the majority of results point to the
potential for paper-packaging material to have adverse effects on
the quality of latent prints, the research is ultimately inconclusive.
Research findings indicate: paper-packaging material does not render
prints unusable or valueless; onsite processing is preferable to off-site
processing; and if packaged, the item should be subjected to as little
movement as possible. The results suggest that transportation and
movement contribute to print damage. Additional research should be
conducted, to identify other variables with the potential to compromise latent print recovery at the crime scene.

EXPERIMENT #3
The last of the three experiment setups follows the same guidelines as
those used for Experiment #2 with the exception of sebaceous residue
used as the sole depositing medium. The other difference between
these two experiments is that Experiment #3 only included prints that
were four days old and eight days old. This setup provided the most
consistent results of the three experiment designs.

REFERENCES
Amspacker, Kris. Personal interview. Feb. 2011.
Bandey, H. L. (Ed.). (2004, August). Fingerprint Development and
Imaging Newsletter: Special Edition, (54).

DONOR 1
The quality of prints deposited by Donor 1 indicates that packaging
material may in fact cause damage to the prints. The results did highlight adverse effects caused by the packaging material. A definitive
conclusion cannot realistically be drawn from this set of data since
other variables (not known or visible to the present researcher) could
have been present thus influencing the results.

MSD-FSD Crime Scene Unit SOP Manual (