Impression evidence often happens when an object takes the form of another object through a direct physical contact. Impression evidence happens when there is a crime and the suspect has left behind something that takes the form of either a tire a shoe or a scratch on a tool. Forensic science use impression evidence as the immediate evidence that will be used to locate the suspect. However, how to collect the impression evidence is a bit tricky because it could be scratched off or could fade away. In most cases, criminals try to avoid leaving evidence but there are some actions that could result to impression evidence being left. Investigators use impression evidence to find a legitimate match and hence use it at the court as evidence (Athanasopoulos et al., 2013).
Shoe print impression
When we walk, we do not think on the evidence we leave behind, especially the footprints, it is obvious that any place we step in must leave a footprint, especially in the rough surface. When criminals enter into a building, they leave behind foot prints, Investigators usually spray some powder that gets attracted to the foot print and draws the whole shoe or foot pattern. The same case applies to walking on sand or even on mud, it goes without saying that one will leave behind a foot print. This takes us to the first photo; it is shoe print evidence on a muddy place. Taking close look at the photo, it is clear that the shoe print is whole; the whole shoe sole can be recognized. The size of the shoe and the design is clearly identifiable and this makes it easy for investigator to match the shoe print with that of a suspect. The shoe print also indicates that it is for the left feet; therefore the investigator could simply identify what the suspect was up to. The fact that the shoe print is much pronounced is evident that the suspect was not in a hurry but was walking with caution. The shoe print photo can be used as evidence because it is clear that there was a huge step made with caution but with a lot of energy. Investigator does not need to sprinkle anything to enhance the appearance of the photo because it can be clearly seen.
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Car tire impression
The second photo shows a car tire impression, it is important to note that during a crime activity, the crime scene could show some car tire impression left behind. This happens often when the crime scene is on a soft sand or mud; obviously, a car that has been driven on earth will leave behind the marks. Tire impressions are easy to identify because the investigator can easily identify the model of the tire, the span of the tire, the type of a car that the tire could fit and most of it the defects on the tire and the reason behind these defects. The photo shows clearly that the tire has some defects as it is not brand new. In most cases, when criminals are done with their crime they always try to speed, in the event of speeding the car will leave behind tire marks that are more pronouncing, this is because of the screeches made resulting from hurry.
Collecting evidence
When it comes to impression evidence, it is not easy to collect the evidence, take for example the case of the two photos; they are evidence on muddy ground. This therefor means that the investigator should collect evidence before it is washed away or scrambled up. The best way to collect evidence in such a case is to take a clear photo of the impression, a photo is the only means of storing such evidence because it is safe and cannot be tampered with, since the tire and shoe print impression happened on mud. However, in such cases, the most appropriate form of collecting evidence is to arrive at the crime scene immediately before the evidence is tampered with.
Reference
Athanasopoulos, D., Plaza, O. P., Dale, A., & Sorrentino, E. (2013). Research and Development of Impression Evidence.
