Recovery Of Latent Fingermarks Submerged In Different Aquatic Environments
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Date
2017-01
Authors
Abd Rahman, Nur Sharida
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Motorcyle theft cases in Malaysia have increased quite significantly with more than a hundred were reported stolen every day. In many cases, criminals had removed the components they only required and disposed the remaining parts into river, lake, mine and other various sources of water. Unfortunately, fingermark development has never been attempted on motorcycle parts recovered from the water as it has been thought that evidence recovered underwater will have no forensic value with regards to fingermark recovery. Hence, this study aimed to determine the survivability of the latent fingermarks submerged in various water environments and the resulting effect on fingermark development with emphasis on realistic conditions. Latent fingermarks were deposited on metal parts of motorcycle and submerged into four different types of aquatic environments; river, lake, mine, and tap water for the period of two weeks with time intervals for collection of 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, 96 hours, 168 hours and 336 hours. Water flow/velocity, temperature, humidity of environment and turbidity as well as pH of the water were determined during experiment. Upon recovery, the fingermark samples were air dried and subjected to various routine development techniques currently practiced by Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Team, Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) namely powdering using magnetic and non-magnetic fingerprint powders, cyanoacrylate (CA) fuming followed by non-magnetic powder, and Small Particle Reagent (SPR). The quality of the developed marks was visually assessed and compared using Biometric Finger Print Identification System (BIOFIS) to generate
an identification report. Results demonstrated that the best development technique was achieved with SPR and CA fuming followed by black powder. The persistence of fingermarks immersed in tap water was found to last up to more than two weeks. Contrarily, fingermark in other water environments can only survive up to 96 hours after being submerged. The fingermarks submerged in lake appeared to be better preserved as compared to those submerged in river and mine. However, poor recovery rates and loss of details were observed in developed fingermarks as the duration of submersion increased. In addition, it is also evident that the natural aquatic environment plays an important role on the survivability of latent fingermarks. In conclusion, the development of underwater fingermarks is still feasible and identifiable fingermarks can still be recovered. Several factors have also been determined to influence the successful recovery and the quality of the developed fingermarks including environmental condition, presence of sediment, method used to develop fingermark and also condition of the fingermark itself. This finding is of paramount importance for RMP as the information obtained suggested that any evidence recovered in the water should as well be processed for fingermark development and cannot be discounted. Underwater fingermarks if recovered, not only can link an individual to the crime but also potentially establish the timeline when the evidence has been disposed in the water environment after the commission of the crime.
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Keywords
Survivability of the latent fingermarks , submerged in various water environments.