Elimination Print
Definition
A ten-print record taken from a person with legitimate access to a crime scene (officer, examiner, paramedic, property owner) held in a separate database to allow latent impressions to be excluded as having been deposited by those individuals rather than by the perpetrator.
- Source
- Person with legitimate scene access
- Record type
- Ten-print record
- Storage
- Separate elimination database
- Purpose
- Excluding known depositors
Common questions
Why is it important to keep elimination prints in a separate database from criminal records?+
Keeping them separate avoids confusing legitimate scene personnel with suspects during searches, respects the different legal basis on which the prints were collected, and keeps the elimination set easy to reference specifically when screening latent prints from a given scene.
What happens if a latent print at a scene matches an elimination print instead of a suspect?+
That latent is excluded from further comparison because it is attributable to a person with a legitimate reason to have touched the item, which narrows the pool of unidentified prints an examiner needs to pursue as potentially linked to an offender.
Related terms
- AFIS Workstation
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- Alternate Light Source (ALS)
- A device emitting light at selected wavelengths (typically 415 to 535 nm) used to detect biological fluids that fluoresce or absorb light...
- Chain of Custody
- The documented chronological record of who collected, handled, transferred, and examined a piece of evidence. For digital evidence, chain of custody includes...
- Crime-Lite
- A compact, battery-powered alternate light source system (Foster+Freeman) designed for scene use by scenes-of-crime officers; the Crime-lite 82S and ML2 are standard...
- Cyanoacrylate Fuming
- A fingerprint development technique in which ethyl cyanoacrylate vapour polymerises onto eccrine sweat residue on a latent print, producing a stable, white...
- Gel Lifter
- A tacky gelatin sheet used to transfer developed fingerprint impressions from textured or three-dimensional surfaces where conventional adhesive tape would not conform;...
- Glassine Envelope
- A smooth, semi-transparent envelope made from supercalendered wood pulp, used to protect developed latent print lifts, photographic records, and small paper exhibits...
- Rapid DNA (RTX)
- Automated DNA profiling systems that complete extraction, amplification, and electrophoresis from a buccal swab in approximately 90 minutes without a laboratory scientist;...
- Rhodamine 6G
- A fluorescent dye applied as a post-treatment to cyanoacrylate-developed fingerprints; excited at 530 nm (green), it emits at 565-590 nm (yellow-orange), greatly...