Application of acid-modified Imperata cylindrica powder for latent fingerprint development

• A novel powder—Imperata Cylindrica (IC) powder was used for the development of fingermarks.
• Fingermarks of different constituents, aged fingermarks and fingermarks submerged in water were developed using IC powder.
• Design of Experiment (DOE) was used to statistically compare the quality between Sirchie® black powder and IC powder.
• The quality and sensitivity of black powder were higher than IC powder.

A novel powdering material that utilizes acid-modified Imperata cylindrica (IC) powder for the development of fingermarks was studied. Experiments were carried out to determine the suitability, adherence quality and sensitivity of the acid-modified IC powder. Fingermarks of different constituents (eccrine, sebaceous and natural fingermarks) on different types of surfaces were used. Acid-modified IC powder was also used to develop fingermarks of different ages as well as aged fingermarks recovered from the water. From the visual inspection, acid-modified IC powder was able to interact with different fingermark constituents and produced distinct ridge details on the examined surfaces. It was also able to develop aged fingermarks and fingermarks that were submerged in water. A statistical comparison was made against the Sirchie® Hi-Fi black powder in terms of the powders' sensitivity and quality of the developed natural fingermarks. The image quality was analyzed using MITRE's Image Quality of Fingerprint (IQF) software. From the experiments, acid-modified IC powder has the potential as a fingermark development powder, although natural fingermarks developed by Sirchie® black powder showed better quality and sensitivity based on the results of the statistical comparison.