Issue 18, 2014

Determining the chronology of deposition of natural fingermarks and inks on paper using secondary ion mass spectrometry

Abstract

This study thoroughly explores the use of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) for determining the deposition sequence of fingermarks and ink on a porous paper surface. Our experimental work has demonstrated that mapping selected endogenous components present in natural fingermarks enables the observation of friction ridges on a laser-printed surface, only when a fingerprint is deposited over this layer of ink. Further investigations have shown limited success on ink-jet printing and ballpoint pen inks. 51 blind tests carried out on natural, latent fingermarks on laser-printed surfaces; up to 14th depletion with samples aged for up to 421 days have resulted in a 100% success rate. Development with ninhydrin was found to affect the fingermark residue through mobilisation of ions, therefore sequencing determination was compromised; whilst iodine fuming and 1,2-indanedione developers did not. This implied that selected development methods affected success in fingermark-ink deposition order determination. These results were further corroborated through inter-laboratory validation studies. The adopted protocol and extensive series of tests have therefore demonstrated the effectiveness and limitations of ToF-SIMS in providing chronological sequencing information of fingermarks on questioned documents; successfully resolving this order of deposition query.

Graphical abstract: Determining the chronology of deposition of natural fingermarks and inks on paper using secondary ion mass spectrometry

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 May 2014
Accepted
07 Jul 2014
First published
22 Jul 2014
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Analyst, 2014,139, 4641-4653

Author version available

Determining the chronology of deposition of natural fingermarks and inks on paper using secondary ion mass spectrometry

N. Attard-Montalto, J. J. Ojeda, A. Reynolds, M. Ismail, M. Bailey, L. Doodkorte, M. de Puit and B. J. Jones, Analyst, 2014, 139, 4641 DOI: 10.1039/C4AN00811A

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