| Author | Message | ||
     Webservant |
In general, natural fingerprint secretions on paper cannot be destroyed or wiped-away with a cloth. Because paper is porous, latent print deposits soak into the paper. Wiping the same area after the fingerprint has dried (drying time varies depending factors such as relative humidity) would normally have no effect. The words "natural fingerprint secretions" are bolded above because if the impressions are deposited in contaminates such as popcorn oil, paint, blood, suntan lotion, or oil from touching your face, then it may be possible to use a cloth to smudge a latent print on paper, making it unidentifiable. At this link, you can see Alex Mankevich's excellent online processing guide for latent print evidence including paper (porous surfaces). If the cloth used to wipe the document was left with the anonymous letter, and if the cloth was finely woven, it is possible that identifiable latent prints might be present on the cloth. Such latent prints have been detected on finely woven cloth in real-world cases. | ||
| Kat_AZ |
To further add to Mike's reponse, if there is a crime to investigate, depending on the resources available, fingerprints may be obtained from papers, letters, receipts, checks, or other items relative to the scene. Paper is most easily processed by chemical means, although often magnetic powders on thermal papers are helpful as well. But a cloth, nope. That's a facade. | ||
| Mike in NC |
you can damage the fingerprints left behind by wiping them away or smudging them. If you ruin the detail of the print, then they can't classify them and tie them to a certain individual | ||
| Moli Davis |
I'm curious becouse the police don't use the fingerprints to identify the senders of anonimous letters. Sometimes, i saw in a movie a sender of a letter removing the fingerprints of the paper with a cloth. Is that possible? Thanks. |
