Trace Evidence

Dr Claire Gwinnett, lecturer in Forensic Science and Dr Andrew Jackson, Head of the Forensic and Crime Science Department, lead the department’s trace evidence research.

Trace evidence research includes areas such as : Fibres, Glass, Paint, Hair, Cosmetics and Pollen.

The Use of Inexperienced Personnel in the Analysis of Synthetic Textile Fibres Using Polarised Light Microscopy for the Generation of Data Suitable for the Production of a Synthetic Fibres Database.

The use of inexperienced personnel in the analysis of synthetic textile fibres using polarised light microscopy for the generation of data suitable for the production of a synthetic fibres database. (Dr Claire Gwinnett Email: c.gwinnett@staffs.ac.uk)

Fibres are a very useful type of trace evidence on the basis of Locard’s ‘every contact leaves a trace’ rule.  Fibres are readily transferred from surface to surface, therefore it is common to find a large amount of fibre evidence at a crime scene.  Due to the large amount of fibres that can be found at a crime scene, this type of evidence can be very useful in providing intelligence information about who was present at the crime scene, to provide associative evidence and to reconstruct the happenings of the crime scene, for example, by providing a possible time frame for events

Although analysing fibres evidence has a range of advantages, textile fibres as a form of trace evidence are rarely used.  This is mainly due to the expense of analysis and the lack of forensic fibres databases. The need for the generation of textile fibre data collections to aid interpretation has been expressed frequently. This study, headed by Staffordshire University, investigated whether inexperienced personnel, such as undergraduate and postgraduate students, could provide data that was appropriate for a forensic fibres database after only a small amount of training.  For further information and the results of this study, please read the abstract here (DOC, file size: 27KB) . 

For a list of research presentations associated with this study please click here (DOC, file size: 23.5KB) .