The Real CSI by Kate Bendelow

Author:Kate Bendelow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780719822292
Publisher: The Crowood Press

Soles and uppers.

The National Footwear Reference Collection was launched in the United Kingdom in 2009. It characterizes different patterns and styles of footwear from the manufacturers, and produces pattern coding, which is then used as a reference source for comparing and matching sole patterns retrieved from crime scenes. Computerized technology such as the Shoeprint Image Capture and Retrieval Version 6 (SICAR6) can interface with footwear reference databases such as SoleMate, which is updated several times a year with details of the latest patterns and brands.

Identifying which type of brand a sole pattern has originated from is one of the earliest stages of comparing scene marks to a suspect’s shoes. If the shoe pattern and scene mark pattern don’t match, then no further examination is needed. However, if they do, then this is the starting point of the investigation. The discovery of footwear patterns may mean that investigators can link crime scenes together, particularly when the same footwear pattern is recovered from a scene with a similar MO, such as those recovered from linked series burglary scenes.

The upper part of the shoe, particularly when it comes to trainers, can be very distinctive, and it is useful for investigators to have a way of tracing particular brands by their style. Being able to identify the particular brand of a shoe, boot or trainer can be useful when an investigation relies on CCTV images, which has captured a suspect or victim who may only be identifiable through his distinctive footwear.

When considering the pattern, footwear experts will also take into consideration the particular mould of the shoe. Under-soles are typically manufactured either by pouring or injecting the foam that will form the sole into a mould, or by cutting the sole out of a piece of pre-moulded rubber. The cutting method allows for greater variation in the end product because of the way the cutting operator works.

The moulding process also allows for variation due to the inherent difference (however slight) of moulds, even those that produce the same pattern – even a hairline crack or similar feature in the mould will be reproduced in the finished product. Therefore, if a footwear specialist can establish that a piece of footwear and a crime scene footwear mark are the same pattern and produced from the same mould, this will strengthen the evidential value of the piece of footwear.

Degree of Wear

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