Using Dry Fire Extinguisher to Develop Latent Fingerprints and its Comparison with Other Methods of Fingerprint Development

Jeremiah O. Boateng, University of Windsor
Pardeep K. Jasra, University of Windsor
Douglas Cowpe, Windsor Police Service
Shashi K. Jasra, University of Windsor

Abstract

The effectiveness of dry fire extinguisher powder to develop latent fingerprints on glass, tile, and metal was investigated in this study. This method was then compared with four other finger-print development methods: cyanoacrylatc → rhodamine, fluorescent powder, granular powder (white or black), and magnetic powder. The results showed that the development of fingerprints with fire extinguisher powder was comparable to other methods on both heated and unheated surfaces.