Abstract

Despite its name, paper tape does not possess the porous characteristics of traditional paper, necessitating alternative approaches for latent fingermark development. In this study, ten commercially available paper tapes were examined to evaluate the effectiveness of various visualization methods on both the nonadhesive and adhesive sides. The non-adhesive side was treated with amino acid-sensitive reagents (ninhydrin, 1,2-indanedione/zinc chloride), a lipid-sensitive dye (Oil Red O), CA fuming followed by Basic Yellow 40 or powdering, and several fingerprint powders including Swedish black, Greenescent, and Dazzle Red magnetic powder. However, none of these methods produced identifiable ridge detail due to the surface’s non-porous and textured characteristics, which inhibited fingermark deposition. On the adhesive side, two development methods were tested: an iron oxide-based powder suspension and a carbon-based Wet Powder Black. Both produced comparable performance in visualizing ridge detail. Furthermore, even when tapes adhered to surfaces were separated using an adhesive neutralizer (Un-du), fingermarks on the adhesive side could still be successfully developed. These findings highlight the importance of surface characteristics in fingermark visualization and offer practical recommendations for forensic processing of paper tape evidence.