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Invisible fingerprints and a backpack-sized stretcher show Italy's policing tools

A demonstration moves from forensic powders and glowing blood traces to a carbon rescue stretcher designed for helicopter winching.

Channel: RaiNews ·

ItalyStory of October 28, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of RaiNews's most watched videos since yesterday, with 728 views.

RaiNews: The news division of RAI, Italy's public broadcaster. 162K subscribers and 196M views.

Dalle tracce al soccorso: la tecnologia delle forze dell’ordine

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0:00Specialist powder makes a fingerprint visible on a jar.
1:05A portable digital microscope displays cartridge cases and bullets on a connected computer.
2:08White light and filtered forensic lights help specialists search fabric for biological traces.
2:51Marci demonstrates luminol's light-producing reaction to reveal blood traces left after washing.
3:21Lombardi presents a helicopter-winchable carbon stretcher that allows X-ray examinations without moving the patient off it.
4:18Two rescuers fold the stretcher into a compact form that can be carried like a backpack.

A brush reveals a fingerprint on a jar. A chemical reaction makes traces of washed-away blood visible. Then the demonstration leaves the forensic workbench for mountain rescue, with a stretcher that folds small enough to carry like a backpack.

Italy's RaiNews, the news service of public broadcaster RAI, brings these tools together in "Dalle tracce al soccorso: la tecnologia delle forze dell'ordine" ("From tracing clues to rescue: law enforcement technology"). Luca Garosi's report, with collaboration from Marco Matteucci, follows specialists from three Italian law enforcement agencies through practical demonstrations rather than a particular investigation or rescue.

Francesco Sudoso of the Polizia di Stato begins with the marks fingers leave behind, using specialist powder to reveal a print on a jar. Carabinieri forensic biologist Giovanni Marci then demonstrates a magnetic brush for palm prints. He introduces Locard's exchange principle: contact between people and objects can leave traces that investigators may recover.

For ballistic examination, police technical inspector Giuseppe Morici shows a portable digital microscope connected to a computer. It allows close inspection of the distinctive features of cartridge cases and bullets.

Marci returns to the workbench to search fabric for biological traces, first with white light and then with filtered forensic lights. At about the third minute, he demonstrates luminol's light-producing reaction, used to reveal blood traces even after cleaning.

The final section turns to the Guardia di Finanza's mountain rescue service in Nicolosi. Deputy station commander Gianfranco Lombardi presents a carbon stretcher that can be winched by helicopter. He explains that its material allows X-rays to pass through, so a patient can be examined without first being moved off it. Lombardi and a colleague then fold the stretcher into a compact load carried on the back, showing how rescuers can transport it before they reach someone needing help.

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