Crime-Fighting Pen Helps Reveal Fingerprints on Receipts

Oct-12-14 A new crime-fighting pen that makes it easier to detect fingerprints on receipts could give police more ways to track criminals by the paper they've been handling.

Receipts from some sources, such as gas stations, grocery stores and ATMs, are usually printed on thermal paper. This has been a problem in the past, because the common method used to test paper for fingerprints will turn non-thermal paper black, destroying any fingerprints. The new pen makes it easy to test whether or not the paper is thermal by marking just a small corner of the paper, which will then change color if it is thermal. Once the paper type has been identified, the investigators can use another device—a specially-designed UV light source—to reveal any fingerprints.

Both devices were created by Dr. John Bond of the Leicester University Criminology department.

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[PHYS.ORG]
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