Unless somebody has been arrested and booked and has their prints on file, or has worked security, military or law enforcement and has their prints on file, they may be virtually unknown to the fingerprint data bases.
Many people have the mistaken idea that you can just get a perfect print off a crime scene, pop it into a computer and then presto-whammo the culprits name and location pops up on the screen.
It doesn't really work like that, 99 percent of the time.
Thing is, the public does not realize this, as they have been misled by bogus tv shows.
So when they get robbed they get angry at the police for not dusting everything under the sun trying to get a fingerprint.
Silly ass shows like CSI (which once showed somebody being identified with DNA testing from a peice of rope he handled) are only going to make the whole thing worse on working cops in the real world.
Most people cannot comprehend that you need a smooth surface and an unblurry print for it to even be identifiable. And that any given smooth surface in their home or vehicle will have their own prints all over it, and family members.
Its the same **** with multiple hit shootings. Our local newspaper editor had a cow recently when some career scumbag got shot twice when trying to run over some cops in a Buick. He cannot get it into his head that just because you shoot somebody one time, they don't fall over and die like they did on reruns of Gunsmoke.