my car was broken into will the police take prints?

Question

My car was broken into last week and a very important laptop with all my info. was taken Is there anyway the police can take prints from my car to track the thief down and how long will it take?

Answer 1

Did you already file a report with them? You say it happened a week ago. If they were going to process the car and take prints they would have done it at that time.

Prints are not always taken. But the officer taking your report should at least inspect the car and try to gather any possible evidence.

A few things that may hamper this would be;
1.) If you handled things in the car and moved things, destroying the prints.
2.) A majority of the surfaces inside a car are not smooth.
3.) The plastic in your dash and door lining has a texture, which resists fingerprinting.
4.) Any prints are now a week old in summer conditions. In the best inside conditions fingerprints are viable for less than two weeks. They degrade quickly, especially in heat.

The police would love to find a perfect fingerprint at every crime scene and have it lead to a conviction. A lot of the time your car isn't the only one broken into and if we got a suspect we could probably solve a dozen break ins in your neighborhood. I am not going to say you may not have gotten a lazy cop who didn't do all he could; I am just saying a lot of times there just isn't anymore evidence available.

Did you give the Police your laptop's serial number? It should be entered in the National Crime Information Center computer system. That is probably your best chance at this point in recovering it.

Answer 2

It depends. Sometimes there are no prints to be taken because many times your car wasn't the only one they hit and they were "smart" enough to wear gloves. The hard part about solving those types of crimes is even if they get prints, it doesn't necessarily mean that the suspect's prints have been entered into the national database (AFIS) so that the owner of the prints can be identified anyway. If the cat's got a clean record, until he really messes up, there is no record of his prints anywhere to match them with. And -- for all you CSI fans out there -- no, the crime labs DON'T work that quickly and many of the tests and machines they have on the show are fictional. Here in reality land, it can take months to get results back. A word of advice though, keep track of all of your serial numbers on any property that has them -- they can be entered into the national system when property is stolen. Then hopefully, if your stuff turns up, they'll know who it belongs to.

Answer 3

When my truck was broken into - I called the cops as soon as I discovered it and they came to the scene and took finger prints. But - I called them right away before anything had been moved or touched. Turns out the bad guys wore gloves. The police were able to recover the texture of the glove - but no prints. The thief did cut himself and a small amount of blood was left on the interior trim panel. They did collect that as well. Of course, for that to do them any good - they have to have a suspect to match the blood to.

Since your vehicle was broken into a week ago - I don't think it would do any good to take prints at this point. You should have called as soon as you discovered the theft.

Answer 4

Possibly, however, there are prints all over the inside of the car. Plus the materials in the interior make it very hard to lift prints. Even if they get a print, it will be more then likely yours and it will go no where.

Not too mention, you said it was broken into last week. Most finger prints do not last that long, especially in the summer.

Answer 5

When my car was broken into, there were very obvious prints, and the police officer that arrived on scene did NOT take prints.. Later, I drove to the police station, and they took prints, but no good came of it.. They probably just threw them out when they got into the building. Petty stuff like breaking into cars isn't on the top of their investigative list is what I've found. Still, it can't hurt to try.

Answer 6

My car got broken into some years ago, and the police weren't interested in prints because the cash value of the crime was so small, ~$250 (all they got was a crappy stereo - haha!). At least, that's what the campus security guard told me, but it makes sense, because processing fingerprints is an elaborate and expensive process.

Answer 7

If worse gets to worse do it yourself. what you will need is a very soft blush applicator brush the darkest eye shadow you can get your paws on and clear vinal adhesive contact paper. its a no brainer. apply the dark eye shadow to the blush applicator brush then gently blow the powder to the print that sets it then very very gently apply the eye shawdow from the brush to the print trying to not smudge the print. when you get a good darkening blow the print this will remove the excess powder from the glass but dont blow to hard you can blow it from the print. then peel the back off of the sticky vinal sheet paste that to the print no wrinkles or creases in the vinal. then pull the sheet from the glass and mutter to your self the words i am going to nail those bast*urds. good luck.

Answer 8

They may, but the thief probably wore gloves. You should have either taken the laptop into wherever you were or put it in the trunk, out of sight. Break-in's like this are usually done out of opportunity. If there is nothing to tempt the thief, they won't usually bother.

Answer 9

Most departments only take prints for crimes against persons. However, it does sound like a Felony case. I would check with the department. Why are you wasting time asking us and not the local authorities?

Answer 10

If you called them when it happened, they would have already been down to investigate and you would know what they are doing. Maybe you should leave Y!A for a minute and file a report with the police about this.