CLPEX Chat Board

Different conversations this morning have made me think of different events that can ruin an LPE's day. Here's my top five list, what are yours?

5) Not noticing that a piece of paper in a homicide case is thermal and processing it with ninhydrin
4) While testifying, seeing more latents on the evidence than I saw when I processed it
3) CLPEX being down
2) Getting a motion to exclude the fingerprint evidence
1) (Drum roll please)... Hearing that your office is having an external audit!! (Just Kidding)

5) Having people find out you actually appreciate appliance surfaces that discourage fingerprint deposition.
4) Getting a two page suspect list of 'people known to be active in the area'.
3) Getting stumped by a 6th grader while speaking to their science class about fingerprints.
2) Having a case named after you due to the mistake you made. (.... don't forget, that's what they did in the Baumgartner case....).
1) Getting your case returned by your verifier because your Photoshop history log for the case includes the steps you took to paste your manager's head on someone else's body.

I have two

2) Getting a "reverse AFIS hit" on a subject you already compared

1) Having a defense attorney say " I don't have enought time to finish my cross examination this afternoon your honor, Can we resume in the morning"

When the Governator says, "We don't have a budget. We are bankrupt. All employees will be reduced to minimum wage and every Friday is furlough day. We will reevaluate this situation next year."

I came up with three...

Can you please spell “triketohydrindene hydrate” for the court reporter?

Yes, we know its 1am on Saturday morning but we need you to come in because we aren’t sure who this guy is…….oh yeah and we think he was only in the river a few days

The budget guy’s house was broken into and the only evidence we have is this one latent print. Can you use the thousands of dollars worth of equipment you have to find out who did it???

Having a citizen tell you that the officer didn’t try to lift prints because it was: too cold, too hot, too busy, or the worst one… this isn’t CSI lady, we don’t do that in minor cases.

Can I just add a few more?


-the brand new rookie saying (in their report) that clear, identifiable prints were present.....what did I take all those courses for?

-the seasoned patrol man sending in the scene attendance request simply 'cause that's what the report needs..."

-the endless supply of latents at a hotel room, rooming house, public space where the event occurred....

And on and on!

"The lift card wasn't in the scanner, maybe it got mixed up with another case?"

oh and can you fingerprint the contents of the rubbish bin out the back?