ts of individuals charged with burglary, breaking and
entering, armed robbery, and other similar crimes.

Should an identification be made of some latent prints, and others in
the same case remain unidentified, the 3 by 5 card should remain in
file until the case is fully closed, inasmuch as more than one person
may be involved in the crime. Of course, if all the latents are
identified, then the 3 by 5 card is removed and placed with the
negatives, lifts, etc.

It may be deemed advisable to remove these latents from the file in
instances where the statute of limitations covering the crime has run.

If the above procedure is rigidly followed, identification in many
instances will result--more than would be effected if the department
maintained only a single fingerprint file in which the latent prints
were merely filed away. Very often such a latent fingerprint file is a
source of information when all logical investigative leads have been
exhausted.

_This resume of latent impressions has been prepared by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in the belief that it may be
of possible interest to law enforcement officers desiring to
avail themselves of latent identification evidence in
connection with their investigative activities. It should be
borne in mind that the comments and expressions set out in
this book are not intended to convey the thought that the
Federal Bureau of Investigation believes the points
emphasized are the only ones of moment, or that other
methods of developing latent impressions are not equally
acceptable. The Federal Bureau of Investigation will be glad
to answer any questions on the foregoing which may occur to
any law enforcement officer who reads this material._

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Science of Fingerprints, by
Federal Bureau of Investigation
John Edgar Hoover

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCIENCE OF FINGERPRINTS ***

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