EFFECTS OF HEAT TREATMENT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF LATENT FINGERPRINTS ON BEVERAGE-CONTAMINATED THERMAL PAPER
Keywords:
Latent fingerprints, Thermal paper, Heat development, Forensic science, Contamination from beverageAbstract
Latent fingerprints are important forensic evidence for personal identification; however, thermal paper is highly sensitive to chemical changes when exposed to liquids. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of latent fingerprints on thermal paper contaminated with common beverages using a heat development method. The examined samples included fax paper, convenience-store receipts, and ATM transaction slips. Beverage contaminants consisted of distilled water, soda water, carbonated soft drink, milk coffee, and lemon juice. Latent fingerprints were photographed using a smartphone camera under ultraviolet (UV) light and evaluated by fingerprint expert. Fingerprint quality was assessed based on ridge clarity and the number of identifiable minutiae points. The results demonstrated that the optimal conditions for latent fingerprint development were a deposition pressure of 800–1,000 g, a heating temperature of 100 °C, and a distance of 0.5 cm from the heat source. Under these conditions, fax paper and convenience-store receipts contaminated with distilled water, soda water, and lemon juice, as well as ATM slips contaminated with lemon juice, yielded fingerprints of moderate to very good quality. In contrast, samples contaminated with carbonated soft drink and milk coffee exhibited low fingerprint quality. These findings indicate that heat development using a hot plate is an effective, low-cost, and non-hazardous technique suitable for forensic examination of thermal paper evidence.
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