Invisible evidence: EVISCAN reveals soot-covered latent fingerprints

Pitch black soot hides away a fingerprint. EVISCAN can aquire latents invisible to human eye through unremoved layers of soot.

latent fingerprints on a soot covered evidence

Arson cases usually entail a problem for crime scene investigators: some evidence is either destroyed by flames or suffers from damage caused by firefighting operations. Remaining items are covered with smeary layers of soot, concealing fingerprints from the eyes of the forensic experts.

Now EVISCAN helps to make those soot-covered prints visible, hence offering the possibility to examine important exhibits such as molotov cocktails and glass, metal or ceramic items after the fire.

soot-covered latent fingerprint revealed with EVISCAN

No removal of soot

So far it is almost impossible to prepare latent prints covered with soot for a dactyloscopic identification with conventional examination methods.

As these require to cautiously remove the soot, it can easily occur that latents, too, will be removed. Unlike that, EVISCAN can detect and preserve prints through their mask of soot with no necessity to even touch the exhibit. The results are immediately transferred to a computer screen to be enhanced and secured for further processing.