The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A slick lawyer can successfully argue against all kinds of evidence pointing to his client's guilt. But thankfully for public safety, there is one burden of proof that can never be dismissed Ð fingerprints. "It's hard evidence," says Cst. Nolan Suss of the Flin Flon RCMP, who scours local crime scenes for the distinctive marks. "If we have a fingerprint, without a doubt we can say that a certain person was at the crime scene." Cst. Suss' expertise is an invaluable asset to local law enforcement. While Flin Flon has access to a forensic team in The Pas, those workers cover a sizable region, and it doesn't always make sense for them to investigate minor crimes. That's where Cst. Suss comes in. With a special fingerprint kit in hand, he dusts everything from vandalized cars to burglarized homes. His first duty is to extensively photograph the scene, providing police with a visual record. At one scene he may take pictures of footprints; at another, a window that's been pried open. Cst. Suss then looks over the scene for something Ð anything Ð the criminal may have left behind, including the distinctive marks on the ends of his fingers. "For the most part, you look for what people have been handling and touching and going through," he says. "When you grab something, there are oils on your hand which adhere to the ridges on your fingers." It's this oil, normally not visible to the naked eye, that is the key to identifying fingerprints. Once Cst. Suss finds an item believed to feature prints, he uses a light brush to apply a special powder to the area. "This powdered chemical adheres to the oils, and where there is no oil, it won't adhere, so the fingerprint becomes visible," he explains. "The fingerprint was always there, but then it becomes visible." After identifying a print, Cst. Suss circles its location with a grease pen and, using a 35 mm camera, photographs it. Next is the most important step, called a "lift," when he applies a sticky plastic film to the powder, giving police a physical transfer of the print. The print is then sent to the RCMP Forensic Unit in The Pas, where experts determine whether it is of a high enough quality to help investigators. If it is, they send it to Ottawa, where it can be compared against the RCMP's national fingerprint database. The Pas also houses a collection of fingerprints from criminals in this region. The whole process, while tedious, is never too much trouble for Cst. Suss Ð especially if it means nabbing a criminal. "There's nothing too small for me to do," he says. "That's where I come in, to do the stuff we wouldn't call The Pas up for." Given the size of the community, Cst. Suss said fingerprints commonly confirm what police already knew or suspected. "It's kind of an enclosed community and you can't do a whole lot here without being known," he says with a smile. Of course the power of fingerprints and other evidence is known to anyone who's ever watched a television crime show like CSI. Consequently, criminals sometimes take added precautions, such as wearing gloves, while stepping over the to the wrong side of the law. "Sometimes they're a lot more informed than I would like them to be," says Cst. Suss.
