The Latent Print Unit conducts latent fingerprint investigations for all types of crime scenes, from burglaries and stolen vehicles to bank robberies, rapes, and murders. There are 78 Forensic Print Specialists with various levels of expertise who are assigned to this Unit. Field responsibilities include processing crime scenes for latent prints, fingerprinting dead bodies involved in homicides, and taking plaster casts or inked impressions of footprints, shoeprints, and tire tracks. Analysis of the latent prints is conducted in the office. The latent prints are run through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) to obtain possible matches, and Forensic Print Specialists manually compare suspect and victim finger and palm prints to crime scene prints. In some cases, crime scene evidence is chemically processed using sophisticated techniques to develop otherwise impossible to see latent prints.
All employees in the Latent Print Unit testify in court as to their findings. The employees of the Latent Print Unit are dedicated servants of the City and they fully respect, support, and assist its citizens and agencies. The Latent Print Unit is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and operates out of Parker Center, Van Nuys Community Police Station, and the Ahmanson Recruit Training Center.
inside the lapd 
