Question for LEO/Detectives regarding burglary

Sometime within the past day, a group of people broke into my place and stole a couple thousand $ worth of tools.
Needless to say, I made a police report as soon as I realized what happened.
The burglary took place in a home that I was remodeling. There were objects that were moved and left behind that I know 100% were in the hands of the suspects. Some of the objects were wood, some metal, and some plastic.
I asked the LEO about having the place checked for prints but he seemed to think it was a waste of time, more specifically he said it was because of the dust in the home. However, some of the previously mentioned objects were not at all dusty.

So my question is, what is the normal required circumstances for checking for prints?

I should also add that I am 99.99% sure I know who was involved. They are felons and known thieves, they also live very close to me. They have multiple convictions of theft/robbery and are currently on probation and one on parole. Their prints are on record and they are obviously prime suspects. One of them was witnessed casing the place yesterday, something I didn't find out about until after the fact.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

I hope you get the SOB's

They should be able to lift a print from just about anything -- the real answer is they probably don't want to "waste their time" on a theft of a couple thousand dollars....AND this sucks because the thieves know if they are not caught "red handed" they will get away with the crime.....and success in crime = MORE CRIME. You need to call the parish's detective unit directly and talk to them.....Hang in there man!

Why don't you lift the prints yourself?

This question is more for a crime scene technician,( I am not). sometimes the surface that was touched is not suitable for printing. The tech may try and lift only a partial which may or may not be enough to identify

Gator 45/70 said:

Why don't you lift the prints yourself?

Click to expand...

Well, i don't know how, and I do not have the tools to do it, and even if I did I would assume that I'd have to have an officer present or at least video the whole process, from start to end when I drop them off at the station. Otherwise, they could have come from anywhere.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

CatCam said:

They should be able to lift a print from just about anything -- the real answer is they probably don't want to "waste their time" on a theft of a couple thousand dollars....AND this sucks because the thieves know if they are not caught "red handed" they will get away with the crime.....and success in crime = MORE CRIME. You need to call the parish's detective unit directly and talk to them.....Hang in there man!

Click to expand...

This is exactly my line of thinking. I planned to call an actual detective Monday, unless you guys think it would be possible to reach one today?
And I know $2k is much in their eyes, however, when you are dealing with the #1 suspects being serial thieves with long rap sheets, you'd think they would be a little more apt to try whatever they can to nab them before they get someone else or come back for more from myself.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

GunRelated said:

This is exactly my line of thinking. I planned to call an actual detective Monday, unless you guys think it would be possible to reach one today?
And I know $2k is much in their eyes, however, when you are dealing with the #1 suspects being serial thieves with long rap sheets, you'd think they would be a little more apt to try whatever they can to nab them before they get someone else or come back for more from myself.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

So, You going to be waiting or put up a camera or two?

Gator 45/70 said:

So, You going to be waiting or put up a camera or two?

Click to expand...

Both

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Just found a fresh cigarette butt. Game on.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Get the detectives involved. My office was robbed a few years ago. Had the city PD come out & the officer said it was no use for him to file a report as we were still cataloging what was stolen. Didn't sound right to me but I'm not a cop. The theft was on a Friday evening & called the PD on Saturday morning. Came back to work Monday & we had been hit again. Called the PD & the responding officer said he would amend the initial report listing the additional items stolen. Told him there was no report filed & explained what went on with the first officer & he just shook his head. Sorry SOB was too lazy to do his job. Come to find out there had been a rash of business burglaries in the area & if a report had been made on the first call they would have staked out the building that weekend. Everyone involved was highly pissed, including the first officers shift supervisor. I know he was disciplined & think he was demoted.
Good luck.

The responding officer came back to collect the cigarette butt. Now the waiting game for results.
I ran the idea of fingerprints by him one more time, but didn't get anywhere with that.
I'm still planning on contacting a detective tomorrow to get their opinion on the prints. There are too many visible prints that were left behind, as well as objects that were 100% handled by the suspects, for me to believe it would be a waste of time.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

CatCam said:

They should be able to lift a print from just about anything

Click to expand...

No.

GunRelated said:

The responding officer came back to collect the cigarette butt. Now the waiting game for results.
I ran the idea of fingerprints by him one more time, but didn't get anywhere with that.
I'm still planning on contacting a detective tomorrow to get their opinion on the prints. There are too many visible prints that were left behind, as well as objects that were 100% handled by the suspects, for me to believe it would be a waste of time.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Wood and other porous surfaces are not a good surfaces for holding latent prints. Prints on top of prints aren't good places to lift prints from. Think tool handles. Dusty or oily surfaces aren't good. Then there's the issue of manpower. As crazy guy with a gun (103M 95G) touched on, some agencies have dedicated people who are trained to deal with prints. If that's the case, were they working? Were they busy at the time? And, yes, some of it may have been not wanting to deal with it. But I would suspect that part, if it exists, is smaller than you may think. My old agency started certifying the street cops to alleviate some of the burden from the crime lab people. Crime lab was notorious for coming out and declaring no suitable surfaces. At least we would give it a try. We didn't get a lot of results, even in places you'd expect to get good results, like the area you grab to close a car door. There were too many smudges in that area. Our success rate was much much lower than the guys on CSI.

They're going to process the cigarette butt for DNA. You'll probably have better results with that one cigarette butt than you would dusting the place for prints. Because of the nature of a cigarette butt, there will probably be only one contributor. Or at least only one major contributor and any minor contributors can be separated from it. I could go on and on about the complications with DNA analysis if you'd like as well. And again, CSI, while entertaining, usually got it completely wrong. But unless the agency who collected the cigarette butt has their own lab, they're probably going to be bringing it to the State Police Crime Lab. To set up a DNA lab, there's the initial cost of building it plus up to $1,000,000 a year in consumables. Most agencies don't have it in their budget and rely on LSP Crime Lab. LSP CL works their @**es off but they're overwhelmed with requests. The turnaround for a request could be up to 2 months. On high profile persons crimes, we could request a high priority and have results in a day or two. But that involves jumping to the front of the line. For property crimes, like a burglary, it's rare they will rush it. Their priority is person's crimes (murder, rape, shootings, armed robbery, etc.) but they understand property crimes need to get processed as well.

I am aware that it could be a long wait on the DNA. I was told it would be sent to LSP CL I believe by Wednesday and then wait.

As far as the prints, the home that was broken into has been vacant for a few years. I was in the middle of remodeling and then had to abandon the project. So, yes it is dusty in most areas, however, some of the tools/objects that were handled were clean (no dust) and they had not been handled by anyone for at least 2 or 3 years. Some of the objects are metal, some plastic, some wood. I can actually visually see the actual prints on some of the objects.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

GunRelated said:

I am aware that it could be a long wait on the DNA. I was told it would be sent to LSP CL I believe by Wednesday and then wait.

As far as the prints, the home that was broken into has been vacant for a few years. I was in the middle of remodeling and then had to abandon the project. So, yes it is dusty in most areas, however, some of the tools/objects that were handled were clean (no dust) and they had not been handled by anyone for at least 2 or 3 years. Some of the objects are metal, some plastic, some wood. I can actually visually see the actual prints on some of the objects.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

If you can see the print, a good crime lab technician should be able to photograph it at minimum. Depending on the surface, that may be the best they'll be able to do.

The goal of my post was not to explain why they didn't do it. I wasn't there. I can't answer that question. My goal was to explain some of the complications involved with looking for prints that aren't addressed on tv or in movies.

I hope the cigarette butt has the suspect’s DNA on it, not some poor smoker who’s butt got caught in the lug of the burglar’s boot.

thperez1972 said:

If you can see the print, a good crime lab technician should be able to photograph it at minimum. Depending on the surface, that may be the best they'll be able to do.

The goal of my post was not to explain why they didn't do it. I wasn't there. I can't answer that question. My goal was to explain some of the complications involved with looking for prints that aren't addressed on tv or in movies.

Click to expand...

X4, I didn't take it as that, and your expertise is much appreciated.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Warhammerhead87 said:

I hope the cigarette butt has the suspect’s DNA on it, not some poor smoker who’s butt got caught in the lug of the burglar’s boot.

Click to expand...

No, they were sitting by a window in the bathroom (I assume a lookout), and they put it out on the floor and just left it.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

If they were to photograph a print, do they use some type of photo enhancement to make the print stand out more?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Damn Roger. Bad news man. I hate a thief. Sure hope something gives. Pretty sad when you can’t count on law enforcement to enforce the law. I’m amazed at the way things work in that regard.