Efficacy of Robin® powder blue for latent fingerprint development on various surfaces

Abstract

Latent fingerprints are subject to easy damage and destruction owing to their fragile nature. Powder dusting is the easiest and fastest of the methods used for latent fingerprint development (LFPD). In the present study, Robin® powder blue, a common household product (used as a post-wash whitening agent and popularly known in India as ‘neel’) which is user friendly, less expensive, non toxic, non hazardous, environment friendly, simple and easily available substitute to the commercially available and costlier powders, has been used for LFPD. The powder was tested on twenty-four strategically chosen surfaces, keeping in mind the high frequency at which they are commonly encountered on various crime scenes. It was shown that this powder gives very good results, even on most of the intricate and multi-colored surfaces tested.

Keywords

• Ultramarine blue
• Forensic
• Pigment
• Fingerprint powder
• Latent fingerprint