Why Is It Important To Be Marked In Any Other Form Of Physical Evidence

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• All such evidence should be marked in some distinctive manner, such as is the case with any other type of physical evidence. Precautions should be taken, when marking evidence, not to damage or destroy potential latent fingerprints.
• Lifted, developed latents should also be marked or sealed in marked envelopes.
• Photograph-developed latents with and without identifying markings and scale. (Evidence Collection Guidelines, 2016)
Preservation of Fingerprint Evidence
• The primary precaution in all cases is the prevention of adding fingerprints to evidence, or of destroying those already present.
• Most fingerprints submitted will be on paper, glass, metal, or other smooth surfaced objects. When articles containing latents must be picked up, touch as little as possible, and then only in areas least likely to contain identifiable latents, such as rough surfaces.
• While gloves or handkerchiefs may be used to pick up such exhibits, any unnecessary contact should be avoided. Although using a cloth to pick up exhibits prevents leaving additional prints on the articles, the cloth will frequently wipe off or smear any prints originally present, unless great care is taken.
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Where such evidence is to be examined frequently, a pegboard should be obtained on which wooden pegs can be moved as desired to support exhibits and keep them from moving. Bottles and glasses may be placed vertically on a board and placed in the bottom of a box. The base of the bottle or glass can be surrounded with nails to hold it in place, and the top can be either inserted through a hole in a piece of cardboard or held in position with a wooden board nailed to the container's