Accutrans

[michelleewaldron]

Has anyone tried/had any luck super glue fuming/dye staining an accutrans lift? I have one from an agency that they dusted with a small amount of white powder and then lifted with clear Accutrans. It is very difficult to see anything. I can see more ridge detail in various lighting than is visible with just the powder. It's too curved/textured to photograph well and scanning has only brough out some of the detail. I was thinking I would try to super glue/dye stain it after running some tests. Has anyone done this before?

[NRivera]

I would try HDR photography before fuming/dye staining.

[Tazman]

I would tell the moron who submitted that lift that if he expects a possibility of identification to throw away all the fancy crap the forensic supply company salesman sold him and get some good, old fashioned black powder, lifting tape, and lift cards. Then maybe next time I could do him some good.

[michelleewaldron]

Tazman, I couldn't agree more. The people in my region are usually pretty good because we hound them at the academy about not using white/fluorescent powder, etc. We recently started helping other regional labs in our state system take on some of their backlog and, since then, I have encountered pink powder, fluorescent powder (not labeled as such, of course), white powder on clear accutrans, etc.

Anyhow, the summary is, I got a decent, AFIS searchable photograph and, although methonol-based ardrox and Tape-Glo both worked excellent on my test cast, they didn't enhance the evidence print much. They didn't damage it, either, which is worth mentioning. I certainly won't feel bad for not being able to help them out, should it not hit.