We're becoming much more successful in developing these leads for the detectives. They also help detectives avoid leads that are going nowhere. We can help clear people as well as provide leads for suspects. Today, there are other methods available for finding latent prints at a crime scene. These newer methods use ultraviolet light, lasers and super glue.
Computers can now automatically compare prints against millions of others in a database.
Bob Long is the spokesman of the Chicago Field Division. The Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center, located at 1941 West Roosevelt Road in Chicago, is one of the most advanced crime labs in the country. It analyzes evidence for the Chicago and its suburban police departments. Inside the chamber, explained Fazekas, super glue is heated so the fumes adhere to the fingerprint, highlighting the ridges for comparison to a suspect's prints. It is believed that this process was recently used in the Andrew Cunanan case, in the murder he is suspected to have committed in Chicago.