An inside look at the latent print with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Forensic Science Lab

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - DNA evidence, with its high-tech luster, often grabs all the headlines.

But latent prints, that old-fashioned staple of forensic science, are still a cornerstone of criminal investigations.

"Well, it’s definitely a combination of evidence," says Emma Verges, a Forensic Scientist with Hennepin County Sheriff. "You want to have more than just one area of support to solve the case."

Time-tested methods

What we know:

In the five-plus years that Emma’s been a Latent Print Examiner, she figures she’s looked at well over a thousand of them.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Crime Lab averages several thousand cases each year, and at least half, she says, come through the latent print section.

While there are a variety of ways to process prints, depending on the surface