Groundbreaking forensic technology is set to revolutionise criminal investigations globally and ensure the proper conviction of suspects. South African researchers revealed a prototype fingerprint-sensing device at the CSIR in Pretoria yesterday.The new technology, the first of its kind in Africa, will be linked to police and Home Affairs fingerprint databases.Through the use of lasers it processes fingerprints taken from crime scenes and from people in under three seconds.Researchers are now hard at work to make the device portable. It is currently the size of a big shoebox and can be fitted to a police vehicle.Co-designer Ameeth Sharman said that in the initial design the technology had been geared towards the collection of "live" fingerprints ."It was during this research that we realised the potential it carried for obtaining 'latent' fingerprints [fingerprints off surfaces such as metal and glass]."Sharman said with the current dusting methods, potential DNA evidence could be destroyed, especially where the fingerprints are left in blood at a crime scene.Co-developer Luke Darlow, who focused on the "live" fingerprinting research, said the technology had been developed from dermatology scanning techniques."The techniques we developed show that every person has two identical fingerprints, one on the skin's surface, and the other just millimetres below."Often skin diseases or injuries damage the surface fingerprint permanently."The 'live' analysis of fingerprinting allows us to see the second full fingerprint perfectly. Where a partial surface fingerprint is obtained, it can be overlaid with the subsurface fingerprint and provide the full, perfect print," he said.Independent forensic expert David Klatzow said it was vital to stop contamination from occurring on crime scenes."In the work I do there are a significant number of cases where forensic work has been severely botched and under the proper cross-examination does not meet the requirements that courts expect," he said.Unisa criminologist Anthony Minnaar said the technology would revolutionise policing and forensics, which were "all about the preservation of and non-contamination of a crime scene"...