Fingerprints and footwear forensics

Footwear mark recovery

Footwear marks are the most common forensic evidence left at crime scenes yet it is often overlooked.

When criminals break into a property, or commit a serious offence such as murder, it is difficult to do so without their footwear making contact with the floor or other surface.  This contact between the sole of a shoe and a surface can often leave a footwear mark - although, like fingerprints, it is not always obvious to the eye that an impression has been left.

In order to increase the number of marks found and recovered from crime scenes we are carrying out research and working with other agencies so that best practice can be determined.  This includes both volume and serious crime footwear mark recovery and guidelines on imaging standards.

Also see our related newsletter  Footwear Mark Recovery

In this section

• More about fingerprinting methods

See also

• Download Fingerprint publications

Internet links

(Links will open in a new window)

• European Network of Forensic Science Institutes
• National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA)
•  The Fingerprint Society
• The Forensic Science Society
• International Association for Identification

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