Criminals usually tread carefully and try not to leave any traces at the scene of crime. Investigators are frequently faced with the fingerprint detection and their subsequent development tasks. In some cases offenders try to destroy the traces by throwing items, e.g., bottles, firearms, plastics, foils, etc.in water or by exposing scene and objects to extreme conditions like arson. Previously many researchers have developed and used fingerprint powder formulations, with each formula consisting of a colorant for contrast and a resinous material for good adhesion. Hundreds of fingerprint powder formulas have been developed over the years. In the past, powder dusting, ninhydrin dipping, iodine fuming and silver nitrate soaking, cyanoacrylate fuming were the most commonly used techniques for latent print development.
These traditional techniques are quite effective for many surfaces.1–5 However, these traditional methods for latent print detection are not always effective and scientists have attempted to improve the existing methods for the visualization of latent prints. The list of different powders which have been used by various workers6–28 for the development of latent fingerprints on different surfaces is shown in Table 1.