How can impression evidence such as shoe prints and tire tracks provide information?

Targets

At the end of this Unit you should be able to answer the following questions 

2. How can evidence be linked to its possible source?

2.1 How can impression evidence such as shoe prints and tire prints provide information?

2.2 How do handwriting and ink evidence help us make inferences?

2.3 How do fibre and soil evidence help us make inferences?

2.4 How can you classify fingerprint evidence collected from various surfaces?

targets
Impression evidence refers to any marks or imprints lefts behind at the scene of a crime.  These could include:

Shoe Prints

Tire Tracks
Bite Marks
Tool Marks

Forensic scientists take photographs and copies of these impressions and try to match them with a known source. If they can figure out what left the impression, they are one step closer to knowing who was at the crime scene.

  Career Connection

Sometimes, a forensic scientist makes a plaster cast of a shoe print or a tire track impression.  These plaster casts are three-dimensional copies of the imprint and may help the investigator find the source of the imprint.

If you are interested to try making your own plaster cast, you can watch this video:

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Ask an adult to help you.