Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging

Forensic image retrieval and processing are vital tools in the fight against crime e.g. during fingerprint capture. However, despite recent advances in machine vision technology and image processing techniques (and contrary to the claims of popular fiction) forensic image retrieval is still widely b...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Needham, J.A., Sharp, James S.
Format: Article
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34490/
_version_ 1848794866911281152
author Needham, J.A.
Sharp, James S.
author_facet Needham, J.A.
Sharp, James S.
author_sort Needham, J.A.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Forensic image retrieval and processing are vital tools in the fight against crime e.g. during fingerprint capture. However, despite recent advances in machine vision technology and image processing techniques (and contrary to the claims of popular fiction) forensic image retrieval is still widely being performed using outdated practices involving inkpads and paper. Ongoing changes in government policy, increasing crime rates and the reduction of forensic service budgets increasingly require that evidence be gathered and processed more rapidly and efficiently. A consequence of this is that new, low-cost imaging technologies are required to simultaneously increase the quality and throughput of the processing of evidence. This is particularly true in the burgeoning field of forensic footwear analysis, where images of shoe prints are being used to link individuals to crime scenes. Here we describe one such approach based upon frustrated total internal reflection imaging that can be used to acquire images of regions where shoes contact rigid surfaces.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:23:00Z
format Article
id nottingham-34490
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:23:00Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Nature Publishing Group
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-344902020-05-04T17:36:54Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34490/ Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging Needham, J.A. Sharp, James S. Forensic image retrieval and processing are vital tools in the fight against crime e.g. during fingerprint capture. However, despite recent advances in machine vision technology and image processing techniques (and contrary to the claims of popular fiction) forensic image retrieval is still widely being performed using outdated practices involving inkpads and paper. Ongoing changes in government policy, increasing crime rates and the reduction of forensic service budgets increasingly require that evidence be gathered and processed more rapidly and efficiently. A consequence of this is that new, low-cost imaging technologies are required to simultaneously increase the quality and throughput of the processing of evidence. This is particularly true in the burgeoning field of forensic footwear analysis, where images of shoe prints are being used to link individuals to crime scenes. Here we describe one such approach based upon frustrated total internal reflection imaging that can be used to acquire images of regions where shoes contact rigid surfaces. Nature Publishing Group 2016-02-16 Article PeerReviewed Needham, J.A. and Sharp, James S. (2016) Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging. Scientific Reports, 6 . 21290/1-21290/7. ISSN 2045-2322 http://www.nature.com/articles/srep21290 doi:10.1038/srep21290 doi:10.1038/srep21290
spellingShingle Needham, J.A.
Sharp, James S.
Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging
title Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging
title_full Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging
title_fullStr Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging
title_full_unstemmed Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging
title_short Watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging
title_sort watch your step!: a frustrated total internal reflection approach to forensic footwear imaging
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34490/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34490/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34490/