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Researchers Lift Fingerprints From Clothing

Posted by samzenpus on from the dust-it-all dept.

cylonlover writes "Refining an existing technique that's been used to successfully recover fingerprint detail from smooth objects such as glass and plastic, forensic scientists have managed to create a kind of photo negative of fingerprint impressions on fabric. It's a bit hit and miss at the moment, but even when clear ridge detail isn't retrieved, the technique could still prove useful to investigators looking for other evidence."

13 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Doh.. by markass530 · · Score: 3, Funny

    It never occurred to me that they COULDN'T do so. at least that's the way I always planned my crimes

    1. Re:Doh.. by rubycodez · · Score: 2

      another assumption you should discard after learning the truth is the business of "fingerprint matching"

    2. Re:Doh.. by supertrinko · · Score: 2

      Agreed, mainly because I have none. on account of a battery acid accident.

      --
      If it rhymes it must be true.
    3. Re:Doh.. by chromas · · Score: 2

      Aha! Now we finally know who to blame for all those crime scenes where we didn't find any fingerprints.

    4. Re:Doh.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Mod parent up. I own the FBI Fingerprint training manual. It's not a real science. It's not quantifiable and is based on inductive reasoning.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science#Induction

      There is no data to support the alleged "uniqueness" of fingerprints other than "We checked, like, AT LEAST 100 people, and none of them were identical".

      They essentially place dots on distinctive features such as "curves" and "swirls" and then measure the distances between these dots. If a small fraction fall within the "fudge factor" they take in to account to allow for distortion, they consider it conclusive after looking at them side by side.

      Imagine Chief Wiggum alternating which eye he closes while holding 2 sheets of paper. I shit you not.

      The jailing and torture of the Portland Attorney based on partial print analysis demonstrates how little basis fingerprinting has in reality.

      FBI:"We are 100% percent sure this is a match"
      2 years later...
      CIA:"So... the real bomber just confessed so we've been torturing an innocent man that you were "100% sure" was a match..."
      FBI:"Honest mistake. Hey, think of it as the exception that makes the rule!"

      Fingerprinting has lost all credibility in my eyes as anything but exonerating or exclusatory evidence.

    5. Re:Doh.. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      As well as being subjective there is also the issue of partial or distorted prints. It is rare to get a perfect print like they do on CSI.

      DNA matching is also not all it's cracked up to be either. Again there are issues with poor samples and the practice of "amplifying" to obtain a usable amount of material. Even with a good sample matching is not 1:1, you only get a probability. At best most real world tests are only accurate to about 1 in 10,000 at best, pretty crappy odds.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Quick! by mug+funky · · Score: 4, Funny

    Test the inside of OJ's bloody glove.

  3. Is it 1985 again? by dbIII · · Score: 3, Informative

    A clever technique involving lasers and polarised light to detect fingerprints on clothing was used in 1985 in New Zealand to catch the murderers of an environmental activist.

    1. Re:Is it 1985 again? by dbIII · · Score: 2
      There's probably not a lot on the net due to how long abo it was but here's one thing in L-space:

      P. D. Drummond, Green Light on the Rainbow Warrior. Auckland Applied Research Office Information Bulletin, (1987). [ Article on the use of lasers for forensic work, which successfully identified the terrorists who sank the Rainbow Warrior - a civilian vessel in Auckland Harbour.]

  4. Bible-tech by sixthousand · · Score: 2, Funny

    I believe this is the same technique Jesus used to create the Shroud of Turin. (~)

  5. Re:Burn the clothes? by jamesh · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not really that smart - just look for the people with burnt clothes!

  6. Re:Researchers Lift Fingerprints From Clothing... by Aeternitas827 · · Score: 2

    Maybe they should sweat more

    Scene: Guy running in dark street, jumping over blown over garbage cans, with blue and red lights flashing distantly. Audible panting heard by audience as the man runs.

    Voice-over: In a real bind? Needing to leave no trace behind?

    (Cut to clip of hand slamming down product)

    Voice-over: NEW, Degree Double-Homicide. Ultra-Maximum, Uber-Clinical Strength Protection against perspiration. Dryness protection that won't break down until you break state lines.

    --
    I don't post AC. I like my -1, Flamebaits. Trump/Sheen 2012 on the Batshit Insane ticket!
  7. Re:Didn't I just see that on CSI? by commlinx · · Score: 2

    I remember seeing something on similar FBI files, which IIRC was over 5 years ago. They had bloodied palm and fingerprints left on a sheet. The problem wasn't so much a lack of evidence but that the pattern of the material intefered with the prints to an extent where a jury couldn't be expected to be able to identify it as a match. They used image processing to essentially subtract the patterning from an unstained area of the material to end up with a relatively clean image.

    It was a reasonably interesting episode and for that kind of show and went into quite a bit of detail in the process, because they had to convince the jury how the process worked so they knew it hadn't just been "fiddled with" to suit the prosecution.