New Value
Shoeprint Database Helps Crime Investigation
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
“Shoeprint evidence is possibly present at pretty much any crime scene you go to," said Senior Forensic Scientist Rian Morgan-Smith. “People have to walk around, therefore theoretically they have to leave shoeprints.
“What we have done historically is treat shoeprint evidence on a case-by-case basis. So if police find a shoeprint at the scene, and they have a suspect, they can compare the suspect's shoes with the print." Now, the Database is being developed to make better use of this important form of evidence, by giving
police a place to store and search shoeprint data.
The Database has two complementary tools. The first is a reference database, containing a regularly updated index of prints from thousands of commonly available styles of shoe. This part of the database can be used to determine exactly what style of shoe made a print found at a crime scene. Because of the
sheer number of shoes on the market, this information simply has not been available before.
The second feature of the Database allows shoeprints from crime scenes to be compared with shoeprints from shoes belonging to suspects, and to be searched for possible matches with shoeprints from other crime scenes or suspects. “It's an intelligence tool, and a way of screening the number of suspects that
you might want to be looking at," said Mr Morgan-Smith.
The pilot of the database will run for three years, and “the hope is that over this time we will get enough information, and enough success stories, to prove its value," he said.
