Special ‘fingerprint’ lamps to boost crime fighting in Kensington

By Ian Morgan

Scenes of crime officers in Kensington and Chelsea will have more state-of-the-art equipment to help track down criminals thanks to council funding.

The forensic team, based at Kensington Police Station, is buying new drug testing kits, special lamps to view fingerprints, electrostatic footprint lifting kits, a cabinet to dry exhibits recovered from crime scenes and new digital cameras.

The equipment is being bought thanks to nearly £30,000 of Council funds via the Community Safety Team - a joint Council and police team working with other agencies to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.

The forensic team is confident the new equipment will increase the chances of bringing criminals to justice.

Cllr Warwick Lightfoot, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said: “Advances in technology are making it increasingly more difficult for criminals to avoid detection. We hope this additional equipment will make it easier for the forensic team to identify suspects and speed up the process of getting offenders to court.”

Nigel Luff, Borough Forensic Manager, said: “Forensic science is one of our most successful weapons in the fight against crime.  Once armed with these new pieces of equipment, we will be in an even better position to identify, catch and gather enough evidence to put criminals behind bars.”

Around £10,000 is being spent on new drug testing kits and training which will allow officers to test common drugs such as heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis in-house without sending samples off to a laboratory (a much slower process which can be between ten and 40 times more expensive).

These kits will speed up the process of prosecutions, in particular for possession of drugs.

Around £5,000 is being spent on extra torches to help search for fingerprints and bodily fluids, primarily in sexual assault cases.

The forensic team uses powerful torches with different wavelengths - some fluids and fingerprints fluoresce at one wavelength, others will only fluoresce at another. Buying additional torches at different wavelengths increases the chances of finding more evidence and identifying the culprit.

The team is also using £2,500 to increase from three to seven its number of electrostatic footprint lifters - special kits that can lift ‘invisible’ footprints from carpets and other surfaces at crime scenes such as burglaries. Sheets are placed over an area and are electrostatically charged which then lifts dust and reveals the footprint.

The team will be buying a second forensic drying cabinet which dries out wet exhibits - such as damp clothing. A second cabinet worth £8,000 means the team won’t have to travel to other boroughs to use a free cabinet.

Without drying the exhibits appropriately, evidential value can be reduced or even destroyed.

The remaining £5,000 will be spent on digital cameras so that injuries to victims of crime can be seen instantly and retaken if not adequate to allow the case to be progressed more rapidly. 

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