Every time I see a fake crime scene on television, no matter what stage of the investigation the police or detectives in question are at, there's always somebody dusting for prints. The body is still lying distorted on the floor, crime scene techs are taking photos, and in the background the guy with the little fingerprint kit is hard at work with his little fluffy brush.
What's wrong with that? Fingerprints are important, right? Shouldn't they be collected as soon as possible?
No, and here's why. Have you ever used baby powder? That stuff gets all over. You could just tap the bottle to send a poof of the stuff up into the air, which you'll certainly find later, covering the table in a thin layer of sweet-smelling white. Same with fingerprint dust. It's messy. just take the lid off the jar and you've already set the stage for a film of black (or white, or fluorescent pink, depending on the surface you're testing) to cover the area in about 10 minutes' time. Certainly not the best idea, contaminating the crime scene you're trying to investigate. That's why fingerprint collecting is the very last step of investigation at the scene, only done once every other scrap of evidence is collected, cataloged, photographed half a dozen times, and taken to the lab.
So next time a detective on TV shouts at the techs to dust for prints, you can shout at the TV, "You're Doing it Wrong!"
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