In February, the Federal Police in Manaus, Brazil marked a major step forward in their fingermark imaging capability with the installation of their first DCS6. This investment equips forensic practitioners with gold-standard imaging technology, advanced multi-wavelength illumination and powerful, purpose-built image processing software, enabling the more effective detection and photography of both latent and chemically developed fingerprints in the laboratory.

The DCS6 is engineered for full-spectrum visualisation, allowing users to work seamlessly across the visible, UV and IR regions. Combined with optimised lighting and dedicated fingermark enhancement tools, including intelligent background removal, the system provides a complete workflow for capturing high-contrast, court-ready images from even complex substrates.

Commissioning and training were delivered over four days, ensuring that the experts in attendance gained both the theoretical understanding and the practical skills required to exploit the system to its full potential. This included selecting the correct wavelength for different development techniques, using optical filters to maximise contrast, and applying advanced imaging strategies to overcome patterned, multi-coloured and reflective backgrounds.

Fingerprints remain one of the most powerful forms of forensic evidence. By improving the quality and consistency of fingermark photography, laboratories can recover more marks, reveal greater levels of minutiae and strengthen the evidential value of every comparison.

Leiciane Terra, Fingerprint Expert at the Brazilian Federal Police, highlighted the importance of the new capability:

“The purchase is important because many identification centers of the Brazilian Federal Police still use traditional methods of fingerprint analysis.

The purpose of the purchase was to challenge this paradigm and bring other fundamental knowledge to the analysis, such as notions of professional photography, the use of optical filters, and lights at various wavelengths.

Many experts still give up on a difficult surface because of a confusing or multi-colored background.

Our intention with the DCS 6 was to show that technology already exists that can improve the visualization of these surfaces. In other words, the intention was to improve the efficiency of fingerprint analysis by the Federal Police, thus bringing more positive results in the search for suspects in databases.”

This installation not only enhances the Federal Police’s operational capability today, but also represents a long-term investment in knowledge, standardisation and best practice in forensic imaging.