Cracking Crime Faster

A case study from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which looks at the forensic evidence and intelligence that are left at crime scenes by footwear, gloves, tyres and fingers. New Latent Image Markup and Analysis (LIMA) software provides a fast, accurate way of transmitting and enhancing images of these marks and allows officers to search police databases for possible matches. It also allows investigators to compare the marks with others found at local crime scenes. Researchers from the University of Sheffield have already developed sotware to transmit fingerprint images directly from crime scenes to central forensics bureaus - now used by more than 30 UK police forces. With EPSRC support, they have taken this software a step further. Traditionally, any evidence at a crime scene had to be lifted or photographed, taken to a forensics bureau and sent to the appropriate expert - taking a day or more. Now officers at the scence can relay this evidence immediately and tap into centrally held databases to provide timely intelligence that can help identify criminals. EPSRC is a part of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) partnership of research councils.