 The faceless enemy of society is on the loose, lost amidst the life of a town. The only clue to his existence is crime, and so identifying him among the teaming thousands. This is how our agents of the law get their man. When a crime has been discovered, time is of the essence. Criminal cases have been known to have been solved because of the alertness and dispatch with which law officers handled the case. Evidence technicians and a detective of the police headquarters, burglary section, are at once dispatched to the scene of the crime. Note that evidence technicians go to the scene of the crime armed with necessary paraphernalia. Three important rules a crime investigator must remember. Protect the scene, preserve evidence, determine the facts. What time did he leave last night? Was he the last to leave? Where was the money located? Etc. Facts are determined. When the arms of the law move in to unmask that face in the crowd, everyone connected with the crime is suspect. Culprits have been known to have posed as the innocent, even the aggrieved, until facts are determined. This is part of the mass of information and evidence that will be sifted to sort out the guilty from the innocent. Hence, this very important role in scene investigation determined the facts. This rule is observed during the course of the investigation by every trained law officer as we shall see. The scene, having been protected, will now be given a going through in detail by the investigation unit. The more detailed phase of the investigation starts. Here the second rule is scrupulously observed, preservation of evidence. The starting point could be any telltale sign of the crime within the area. In this case, the door. The first telltale evidence of the burglar's visit is found. Jimmy marks on the door. A photograph is made of the area. It is during this phase of recovering and preserving evidence that police equipment comes into play. A cast is made of the Jimmy marks. Bits of evidence that will soon fit into the jigsaw. A closer observation of the outside area reveals more. The fibers attached to the window casing. A photograph is taken of this also for future reference. After the photographs are taken, these pieces of evidence are preserved for laboratory examination. Now carefully evidence is handled for removal to the laboratory. The investigation officer then fills in a crime report form. Presupposing that the outside area has yielded enough evidence for the moment, the investigation team moves into the inside area. This is the actual scene of the crime. It could yield the most damaging evidence to the culprit's identification. Again, the scene has been protected for the investigation team. No detail, no matter how minute, has been tampered with. It remains as it was the night the burglar left it. What new evidence will be found? But first, an overall photo is taken of the room before it is entered. Then, the evidence technicians and investigation officer take over. Little bits of evidence invariably crop up. The rear door, what does it tell the investigator? The burglar's entrance, but the front door was also open. Whatever he theorizes at the moment, the investigator must check and double check. This points out the third rule in investigation, determined facts. The evidence technician confirms by asking the manager if this was not opened by him. Around the desk, the obvious spot where the robbery was committed, the investigation team narrows down the facts. Again, the evidence is preserved. During the course of a scene investigation, curious spectators will invariably gather around the crime area. Like a member of the team, the beat officer keeps them in check to protect the scene. Meantime, the other members of the investigation squad try to find some more information to determine the facts. After all the photos have been taken, the fingerprint evidence technician starts to work. This is called latent fingerprints. Some are invisible to the naked eye. They form the most conclusive evidence that will link the culprit to his crime and even reveal his identity. This evidence is brought out in the open by powdering, as in this case. Suffice it to say at this point that the most important evidence is preserved with the utmost of care. The first phase in unfolding the crime is, crime scene investigation has been affected, during which the scene has been protected, the evidence preserved, some facts determined. But so far, the criminal is still a faceless man in a sea of thousands. Now the second phase enters, unmasking the criminal. This time, in attempt to find the information as to a suspect, the team fans out in the neighborhood. This is the phase of investigation that requires patience, dogged persistence on the part of the investigator. One little clue, one little light of recognition, one little piece of information could shed light to the culprit's identity or aware abouts. But pursued with calm determination and tact, the line of investigation almost always produces that someone with helpful information, no matter how inconsequential at the moment. This phase, in some cases, has been known to last for months. But through persistence, the investigator finds a witness. A block away from the scene of the crime, such a person is found. No criminal, no matter how thorough in covering his tracks, can be completely certain. The night before, he observed a taxi cab parked near his home, which is a block away from the victimized insurance company. How was this? He had returned home late, noticed a cab as he was coming in. Anything else he observed? He heard what sounded like breaking glass at that time, but paid no attention, went into his home and to bed. Did he see the man in the cab? Yes, but he couldn't make his identity out, though he appeared to be watching down the street at the time. The taxi? It was a Renault light in color. That was it. The first concrete lead to the culprit's apprehension. With the information, an order is issued to police to check all Renault taxis, especially those of light color. And for a person with a cut finger or hand, and for any burglar tools, particular attention to tools of a given size with broken tips. Meanwhile, back at headquarters at the laboratory section, the evidence gathered from the scene of the crime is examined, classified, and filed for reference. Scientific knowledge is brought to bear to determine facts. The torn envelopes are fumed. Latents and photos indexed and filed. All this mute but incriminating evidence now waiting to be thrown to the suspect. Proof that would bring to light the commission of the crime, the identification of the culprit, and even the reconstruction of the crime. Meanwhile, the arms of the law scour the city, hanging on those few bits of information, on those few determined facts gathered at the scene of investigation, the light-colored Renault taxi, the driver with a cut finger or hand, and the burglar tools with broken tips. With this information, the police drag net slowly but inexorably closes in on the culprit, and soon a suspect is picked up. He answers to the description mentioned in the pickup report, a light-colored Renault taxi. In his possession, a bar the same size mentioned. But one fact seems baffling at the moment. The suspect doesn't have lacerations about the hands. But is he set free? No, one fact would lead to another. There are incriminating evidences against him. He has yet some explaining to do. Now the mass of scientific evidence gathered is brought to bear on the case. At the laboratory, the bar found in the suspect's possession is matched with the cast made of the marks found on the door. They match perfectly. Interrogated, the suspect denies implication to the crime. But how to explain the bar found in his possession? He found it in the street, so he says. If he is telling a lie, he has another surprise coming. For now, the one single weapon in scientific crime detection that ensures punishment for the guilty and protection for the innocent is called into play. Latent impressions, his fingerprints are taken. The laboratory technician made a comparison study of his fingerprints and those found at the scene of the crime. But they do not match. Is he then innocent? A check is made of the fingerprint file. The suspect, it turns out, has been arrested previously for burglary. This is a lead for the fingerprint file as a full record of his arrest, his known associates, et cetera. Lead gets hotter. Immediately, a check is made of his known associates. Their fingerprints are matched against that found at the scene of the crime. And soon, a match is made. The criminal is unmasked. There can be no denying his identity. There are no two fingerprints alike. Fingerprints are a man's trademark. Armed with this proof of identity, the police have but to apprehend the culprit. The murders are sent out to police for the arrest of a man answering to the description yielded by his fingerprint card. His whereabouts, his usual haunts, his habits have also been recorded once before. And eventually, he is picked up. At police headquarters, he of course denies the crime. But now, a complete line of evidence is thrown at him. Latents, photos, crime reports, all the jigsaw pieces of evidence preserved from the scene of the crime that would now fall into place to reconstruct the crime. Was it not a fact that on the night of the robbery, he parked his light colored Renault taxi a block away from the insurance company? And before his very eyes, in fact, the line of evidence was presented to him in surprising detail, his own crime. Linking him to the robbery are his tell-tale fingerprints that police officers have carefully preserved. Absolute proof of his guilt. Perspiration comes out of the pores of one's fingers. This causes a print of the fingers left on anything touched and are called latent impressions. To preserve them, latent prints are developed or are made visible by chemicals. Or as in this case, by the process called powdering. All latent impressions are then photographed when possible and feasible on the original object. Then, these are preserved by the method called lifting. This provides the examiner a method of preserving as nearly as possible the original latent print. After the latent impressions have been preserved on lifters, the investigator makes pertinent notes regarding the fingerprints for record purposes. The same procedure is followed as each fingerprint is discovered. The type of surface where the fingerprint is found determines the method used for developing. On smooth surfaces, powder is used. On rough surfaces, chemicals are used to the method known as fuming. In photographing, a close-up image of the latents are taken. For lifting powdered prints from many surfaces, a transparent tape patch type of material is usually used to a great degree of satisfaction. These are called lifters. Preserved in lifters, the prints are marked for identification and are then ready for transfer to the laboratory. At the scene of the crime, the investigator looks for three types of fingerprints. Plastic, found on material that would leave an impression, such as soap, wax, putty, et cetera. Visible types, left by fingers smeared with dirt, blood, or similar substances. And latent types, left normally by fingers, as in this case. Latents are invisible, partially visible, or visible. Powders are primarily a means of making visible those prints not clear to the naked eye. No powder need be applied to visible prints. Needing no development, visible prints are also photographed as they are. In making a lift, pressure is applied carefully, first from one end of the tape to the other. Otherwise, wrinkles and air bubbles may result, and a poor lift obtained. The tape is smoothed out and pushed into the visible impression by finger pressure. Then the tape is peeled carefully by a smooth, gentle movement and placed on the proper colored backing or a trans sheet, and the lift is complete. Fingerprints are highly perishable, so great care is exercised in collecting them for evidence. It takes only four ounces of pressure to leave a print, less to eradicate. As a last step in preserving fingerprint evidence, an identification tag is affixed to every lift at the time it is made. The person lifting the impression should place his initials, the date, and place of lifting on the tab. Notes should also be kept as a record of the exact place of an object or surface from which the print was developed. At the laboratory, fingerprints found on rough surfaces and those which usually cannot be developed with powders are made visible by the chemical method known as fuming. Science has proved once more its potent force in cracking a case. Confronted with all this evidence, he admits the offense, just as demands that facts uphold beyond the reason of doubt one's innocence as well as one's guilt. But with the advent of scientific crime detection techniques to train police officers, there is no such thing as a faceless criminal. After thousands of years, the crime investigator and the scientist have brought an age in which society is protected from the deeds of evil men. Fewer criminals can now escape discovery. Important perhaps, they have proven that side by side, they help protect the innocent from punishment.