Photographing Footwear Evidence

Written by Dwane Hilderbrand

Taking quality examination photographs

When making quality examination photographs of the evidence prints, be sure to use the same numbered marker you used when you were showing the relationship of the print to the scene. In order for a footwear examiner to perform a quality examination, high-quality, close-up photographs are required. Since footwear evidence can come in two different forms—prints and impres-sions—the techniques of photography are slightly different. This can be easily obtained with a little time and patience. There are many types of cameras that are being used for crime-scene photo-graphy, ranging from 35 mm and 4 x 5 film cameras to digital cameras.

After the selection of the camera and the film or digital media, you will need to select an appropriate scale that will be present in all the photographs. This is very critical in order to allow for enlargement from the negative or image to make an exact duplicate of size (1:1). When no scale is utilized in the photograph, the examiner has no idea what the size of the real impression is. It then becomes difficult for the forensic photographer to print 1:1 scale photographs for examination purposes.

Types of footwear evidence

Footwear evidence can come in at least 3 forms, footwear outsole impression evidence, footwear insole impressions and footwear trace evidence.

Footwear outsole impression

Footwear outsole impressions are impressions left on an object that was caused by contact with a piece of footwear. These can left on the ground or raised surface by persons treading over it, left on doors or walls by persons attempting to kick or climb over a wall or even left on other persons after being kicked or stomped on.

Latent footwear outsole impressions:

Latent impressions are caused impressions that are not easily visible to naked eye. Such prints can be on many different surfaces such as floor tiles, concrete or even carpet. Latent impression may not be easily visible to the naked eye and its detection may require the use of additional specialized light sources such as portable UV lighting. Recovery typically includes photography as well as lifting with “gel” or “electrostatic” dust lifters.

Footwear Insole imprints

Footwear insole imprints are imprints left in the inside of footwear caused by contact from the person’s foot. Analysis of the insole imprints can be used to link a person(s) to a piece of footwear.

Footwear trace evidence

Footwear trace evidence is trace evidence that is recovered from footwear. Types of trace evidence that could be recovered include skin, glass fragments, body hair, fibres from clothing or carpets, soil particles, dust and bodily fluids. The study of this trace evidence could be used to link a piece of footwear to a location or owner.

Detection of footwear evidence

Detection of impression in ambient lighting

Detection with forensic light sources

Detection with electrostatic lifting devices

Detection with chemical enhancement

COURSES IN FOOTWEAR EVIDENCE:

Bournemouth University: 3D Laser Scanning & Forensic Footwear Evidence

Dead Birds falling from sky, Millions of fishes turning up dead on the shores of the coasts around the world, the decline in the bumble bee.. Is it that the clock for 2012 is ticking Already…Well it is common sense to be concerned when the animals around us start dying suddenly and in large numbers.

Everyone is talking about it,. the media reports just keep coming in on the phenomenon. So what exactly is happening??

Is it really the “Disease” , the “Global Warming”, Blunt Trauma , “Aliens” (I just made that one up). Well the phenomenon of such a massive deaths has got many people concerned.If you have missed the Reports .. Here is the Recap of what might have been the Cause of death of the birds:

1. Loud Noise Likely Caused Birds’ Deaths in Arkansas
2. Early tests show Ark. blackbirds died of trauma
3. Dead birds in Sweden killed by ‘external blows

The fish deaths are also a mystery: While the scientists say that disease is the most likely cause — because only one fish species washed up dead — that explanation doesn’t hold water. Here’s why:
Animals deaths don’t resemble infectious disease patternA virus, bacteria or fungus doesn’t magically and suddenly spread across 100,000 members of one species all on the same day. It takes time for such infectious agents to spread. If disease were the cause, you should have seen a few fish showing up dead on one day, followed by a few more some days later, then a lot more after that, and then finally a much larger mass over the subsequent days or weeks as the infectious agent spread through the population.This could be an indication of a poison or some other radical change such as a sharp temperature change in the river. Something changed in the environment — perhaps a rapid depletion of oxygen, or the interference with fish physiology through electromagnetic means.

http://abcnews.go.com/assets/player/walt2.6/flash/SFP_Walt_2_65.swf

Thank you for reading.

External Links:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/01/05/sweden.bird.deaths/?hpt=T2

http://www.naturalnews.com/030914_dead_fish_birds.html

I need people to start working with me on Forensic Magazine (Online) in India. I need forensic professionals, the cyber guys, the software developers…. and much more.

My idea to such an Inception is making forensic professionals come together to share their stories, research, work and much more. This would be published in an Online Magazine for readers across India.

So if there are people who want to join in. do let me know.

Thanks in advance

Job Description:

A forensic artist is responsible for interviewing the victims and witnesses of crime to gather essential information about how the suspect looks like, and drawing a cartographic sketch to match the description given by the victims and witnesses. Some forensic artists now utilize computers to help them construct pictures. Some agencies may require the forensic artist to sketch manually while some allows the utilization of computer graphics to create the images of missing people and showing how these people might have aged. They may also be responsible for sketching a reconstruction of the crime scene using some forensic information. Specialized forensic artists such as sculpture artists may be required to reconstruct faces to help in the identification of skeletal remains.

Forensic Artists are responsible for performing other tasks that may include:
• teaching forensic art workshops or classes to patrol officers, detectives, crime scene investigators, medicolegal death investigators, and others
• providing expert witness testimony in court trials
• consulting about forensic art to law enforcement agencies
• maintaining computerized forensic art databases
• developing and managing quality control standards for forensic art

Google Books : Forensic art and illustration By Karen T. Taylor

Latest Case – Jolene Riendeau

Case Type: Missing From Home
Missing Date: Monday 12th April 1999
Missing From: Pointe St. Charles Montreal Quebec
Missing Country: Canada
Sex: Female
DOB: 08/Aug/1988
Age Now: 21

The organization uses photographs of relatives who closely resemble a missing child and then incorporates other elements -for example, current trends in hairstyles -to create an image of how a person might appear years after he or she has disappeared.
Photos created by the centre’s forensic artists have helped solve cases involving missing children in the United States.
Perhaps the centre’s best-known work involved an image it produced of Jaycee Dugard, who disappeared at age 11 in 1991, in California.

Learn about : Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard

When she was rescued 18 years later from the people who abducted her, observers were struck by how closely Dugard resembled an image the centre had created, based on what experts thought she would look like as a young adult.

In 2002, the centre created an image of Riendeau based on what forensic experts predicted she would look like at age 12.

“Many years have since gone by and we are without any news on Jolene,” said Pina Arcamone, director general of the Missing Children’s Network.

Despite chasing down tips at various points since she was last seen, Riendeau’s disappearance remains one of the highest-profile unsolved missing persons’ cases for the Montreal police.

Forensic Artist at Work!!!!

Age-enhanced photo shows what Jolène Riendeau might look like today at age 22.

With the number of missing cases in India, this ‘Age-enhanced’ image process would be a great tool for investigation.

The Preview: Grim Sleeper is the nickname for a serial killer in Los Angeles, California believed to be responsible for at least 11 murders and one attempted murder in Los Angeles since 1985. The attacker was dubbed the “Grim Sleeper” because he apparently took a 14-year hiatus from his crimes, from 1988 to 2002.

The Investigation and Arrest: Well the Wikipedia would give you more Information but in brief the investigation took 25years..with the arrest of Lonnie Franklin Jr., 57 The arrest was made on July7, 2010

What is gripping is the way he was caught! Heard of familial DNA??… Well if you haven’t its the first Familial DNA Case- Familial coz it is the DNA of a very close RELATIVE!! YES..RELATIVE…NOT YOUR OWN..BUT YOUR CLOSEST RELATIVE…

The familial search in the Grim Sleeper case began at a lab of the state’s Bureau of Forensic Services in Richmond, Calif., where forensic scientists came up with a list of 200 partial DNA matches from a database that contains 1.3 million profiles.

To narrow down their list of 200, they analyzed the Y chromosome, the male sex-determining chromosome that is passed from father to son. One person, a man who had recently been convicted on a felony weapons charge, was an exact match to the Y chromosome of crime-scene DNA. Next, using corroborating information like birth certificates and Google mapping, researchers figured out that the matching person’s father would be a viable suspect.

But the advent of familial searches raises important questions that may be better answered with a more sweeping authority: national mandatory standards governing the method and appropriate use of the technique. But how might these technologies be mis-used in the future?

Want to know more: Check this website exclusively for “Grim Sleeper”
http://thegrimsleeper.com/

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Joulyn