"Flyspray" and concealing prints

[L.J.S.]

Had a question come up in a mystery writer's list. The topic was whether bad guys watch shows like CSI and learn anything from them. Someone responded:

I used to flat with an ex-con who was a 'pro' burglar before he was
put away. According to him the height of high-tech for burglaries was
wearing gloves to avoid fingerprinting things, and if in doubt
spraying flyspray over any areas you thought you might have printed.

[Flyspray seems to be insect killers like Raid]

My response was that any household counter cleaner or glass cleaner ought to work just as well. Most are designed to get rid of unsightly fingerprints on furniture, windows, etc. Then folks started to wonder why "flyspray" and does it really work?

So...anyone have any thoughts for the writers on (1) kinds of things bad guys do use; (2) do they work and if not, what's the smart protagonist to do?; and (3) if it works, why?

[Steve Everist]

I'm guessing that "flyspray" is actually a very sticky substance, similar to the fly paper traps.

Instead of cleaning away the fingerprints, what they would be doing is masking the ability to recover them via powder. The black powder would adhere to the sticky surface that had been sprayed.

I've ran into this on a stripped vehicle before. It appeared to have been coated with some sort of residue, such as WD40.

That would be my guess as to what they were describing.

[Patrick Warrick]

Steve,

Your comments remind me of when I worked in Seattle and processing several "stripped" vehicles and they were sprayed down with WD-40. I think the WD-40 is a Pacific Northwest thing, I've never seen it anywhere else. At least I'm not aware of it anywhere else. Its interesting how a certain MO will develop in different parts of the country.

Patrick Warrick

[Pat Wertheim]

Do criminals learn from TV and movies? GEEZ --- NO!!! Think about it. Fingerprints have been around for a century and yet thousands -- probably millions -- of burglars still leave fingerprints because they are too STUPID to wear gloves. Heck, most of them would make more money flipping burgers parttime at McDonald's than they make from their crimes.

One of my favorite burglar stories occured in Plano, Texas, when I was in the ID Unit there. A woman had stayed home from work on sick leave, barely able to get out of bed. When her doorbell rang repeatedly, she ignored it. A few minutes later, she heard a window shatter in another part of the house and she called 911 from the phone on her nightstand. We got there and arrested the burglar, who happened to be wearing gloves. Two weeks later, I processed a burglary scene in another part of town and got some beautiful latents from a broken window pane. The investigator asked me to compare those latents to the inked prints of the earlier burglar. I said I didn't think it would be him because part of his M.O. was the wearing of gloves. But I pulled the known burglar's fingerprints and -- sure enough -- made the idents. After the investigator arrested him again and brought him in, I had to go ask him about the gloves. "You were wearing gloves the first time we arrested you. Why weren't you wearing them this time?" His reply: "Ohhh Man, you kept my gloves."

Like I said, STUPID. Willing to commit felony burglary, but unwilling to shoplift a new pair of gloves? Or too unimaginative to think of it? I don't think watching CSI would have helped him become a better burglar! There may be a few smart ones, but the majority of criminals are just plain STUPID.

[David Fairhurst]

Lisa,

Your mystery writer must be English. You were right and Steve has it wrong this time. Flyspray is our generic word for aerosol insecticides, of which Raid(tm) is one brand. It's not sticky, just poisonous to flys when airborne.

I would agree with you that any aerosol would have the a similar, if not better, effect. Wouldn't it be a considerate burglar who polished your furniture and cleaned your windows before he left with your TV under his arm?

Maybe it depends which of the counters at the store are covered by CCTV.

I was trying to avoid comments about stupid Americans not knowing what flyspray is. I guess its just another example of our two great nations being divided by a common language. It was 25 years before I found out what a fawcett is.

[Patrick Warrick]

Do you mean Farah?

[David Fairhurst]

No. I knew who she was in my teens.

I guess I meant "faucet".

[Pat Wertheim]

Don't worry about "faucet," David. As an American visiting the UK, I've used several benign US terms such as "pants" and "fanny pack," and then been embarrassed by the meaning in the UK. Now I can add "flyspray" to my dictionary of the UK dialect of the English language.

P.S. -- Americans traveling in the UK should refer to "trousers" and a "bum bag." "Pants" are underwear and a "fanny" is, uhhhh, . . . you tell them, David.

[Steve Everist]

So as a stupid American planning a trip to London next year, what would I ask for if I wanted some pop? I know in the eastern US I ask for a soda.

Maybe I'll just drink beer. That's universal, right?

[Lloyd Paul Brannon]

I'll share a couple of incidents to this:
A recovered stolen vehicle, well taken care of during it's 4 months of procurement, found at a local casino. The interior was so well taken care of by the theif(ves) they armorall'ed the seats and dash. During it's extended recovery time, while parked in the direct sunlight, the armorall heated and fumed throughout the interior, where no latent images could be recovered.
Another incident where a burglar got into a water company supply, tools and parts, and they sprayed the WD-40 over everything.
Both of these incidents were long before the glamerous CSI and FBI files.
My last incidents involved an uneducated "meth-head", lower economic class, and she was caught twice with cotton gloves and once with a wet washcloth. Prints, no, she was caught with good old ploice work; citizens caught her in the act.
The CSI effect? sure!

[Jan LeMay]

Speaking of soda pop. Recently we've had recovered stolen auto's that have been covered with pop. They spray it over the car exterior. Here in north east Colorado we've also seen WD-40 being used.

[RL Tavernaro]

Steve,

I think the WD-40 is a Pacific Northwest thing, I've never seen it anywhere else. At least I'm not aware of it anywhere else. Its interesting how a certain MO will develop in different parts of the country.

Patrick Warrick

I had some experience with the WD-40 (or similar) thing in the Desert Southwest in the past, long before CSI and other Forensic oriented shows became popular. Of course, my own experience showed something of a "pipeline" between the Pacific Northwest & Desert Southwest for criminal suspects, as far back as 1980.

[sharon cook]

I did a case back in California where the burglar used a paper bag over his hands to break in...and then left the paper bag behind...which we processed and got some lovely prints (his hands being all sweaty inside the bag, you see), and HE WENT DOOOWWWNNNN! MWAHHAHAHA!

[Kathy Saviers]

When I worked in Southern California, some of the bad guys would shoot off fire extinguishers inside and on the outside of stolen vehicles. We didn't find a good way to get prints off the cars back then. I can't even imagine how nasty it would be with WD-40.

Kathy Saviers

[Neville Morris]

Wd-40 has been available in New Zealand since the late 70's and was probably being used in the 80's in the same way. Cars were being stolen then stripped way back then and being sprayed with a light oil, at the time the Detectives were saying that the cars were being stolen by bikie gangs and it was believed that the different chapters were communicating around the world with each other. My guess is our local chapters learned this trick from chapters in the USA. To day we can keep more up to date with the crims through this kind of discussion. As I remember it we put a stop to the practice by super-glue fuming cars and getting ident's the bikies learn very quickly. Ps we refer to soda pop as fizzy drinks.

I agree with you Pat in this country most crims are thick but you do get some smart ones. I went to Jewellers breakin once the detectives gave me the name of a well known crim to compare with prints from the POE, when I got back to the office I was scoffed at because this crim never left dabs, too bright for that they said. Guess what I ided him, it appears he was so drunk he forgot to use gloves, thats what he admitted.