The Myth of Fingerprints

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We recently had an unusual inquiry from a person about lifting fingerprints from multiple works of art. This person had bought some expensive pieces of art from a person who was close to the artist, who died over thirty years ago. There was some question as to the authenticity of the items. Since the art was crafted in the late 1980’s, then we would assume that any fingerprints would have been transferred to the art at that time.

First, the person first wanted to know if it was possible to identify the presence of latent fingerprints on various works of art that were over 30 years old. The question was, “how long will latent fingerprint evidence last on an object”?

Fingerprints on paper, cardboard and unfinished wood can last for up to forty years (per actual casework histories) unless exposed to water (and contaminate transfer prints can even then sometimes persist).  Fingerprints on non-porous surfaces such as plastic, metal and glass can last for many years if not exposed to water and if left undisturbed.

Estimates about the age of latent prints are unreliable when the experts guessing have no idea what was on the fingers that touched a surface, so you will generally not be able to determine if the fingerprints are fresh versus old. Latent prints that develop "quickly, strongly or dark" are not necessarily consistent with having been "recently" deposited.  Unless scientific analysis of latent print residue on evidence was completed before processing with powder or chemicals to visualize latent prints, then the nature of the latent print residue deposited by the fingers or palms cannot be known. Circumstantial evidence such as information that an item was cleaned thoroughly with glass cleaner, soap and water, etc., could date latent prints on the item as not being older than the last thorough cleaning. 

Any surface that is about as smooth as the miniature corrugated cardboard type ridges on your fingers can potentially bear identifiable latent fingerprints... and the flexibility of the finger skin can often also conform to relatively rough surfaces such as imitation leather dashboards.  Fingerprints from crime scenes have been identified on papers, cigarettes, fruit, crumpled aluminum cans, plastic garbage bags, bed sheets, rocks, and thousands of other surfaces 

The person also wanted to know if latent fingerprints were found, was it then possible to lift them for comparison to fingerprints that might be available on file for the deceased artist?  The person believed that the artist may have been arrested in  at some point in his life and therefore law enforcement might have his fingerprints on file. The answer to this question is, that as long as there is a known fingerprint record on file somewhere, it can be used to make a comparison with a “lifted” fingerprint print to make a positive identification.

The state criminal justice agencies are always a good first stop in searching for fingerprint records of any person that would have been required to be fingerprinted due to an arrest (generally Penal Law misdemeanors and felonies). Other places to search would be fingerprint records mandated by certain federal and state laws in order to be licensed or work in certain fields for example, security guards, certain health care workers, bar owners, etc.

If the person is deceased and did not die of natural causes, you might also check with the coroner's office in the place were they died to see if they had conducted an autopsy. In New York City, an autopsy will trigger fingerprinting by an NYPD Detective assigned to the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office. The fingerprint cards will be kept on file at the NYPD Detective Bureau’s DOA desk.  In any case, if there are no available fingerprints to compare any “lifted” prints to, it makes no sense to “dust” any items for fingerprints.

Joe Cordes is the VP of Investigations at MSA Investigations