Polymer banknotes, first introduced in Australia in 1988 to replace paper-based currency, have proven to be a difficult surface on which to develop latent fingerprints. Techniques investigated for developing latent fingerprints on polymer banknotes included fluorescent powders, cyanoacrylate fuming, vacuum metal deposition, 4-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde and physical developer. These conventional detection techniques encountered significant problems due to the semi-porous nature of the surface. Of the methods evaluated, vacuum metal deposition (VMD) proved to be the most effective technique for fingerprint development on this substrate. Results were particularly encouraging given that only a small VMD unit (manufactured in the early 1960s) was available for the study. Figures, table, references