Footwear & Tire Subcommittee

The Footwear & Tire Subcommittee focuses on standards and guidelines related to the detection, documentation, recovery, examination and comparison of footwear and tire evidence.

Forensic footwear and/or tire examiners undertake the following tasks: documenting, collecting and preserving footwear and tire evidence, and comparing and analyzing footwear or tire impressions.  Examiners provide expert opinions regarding source conclusions, determine the manufacturer, make, or model of the source of a questioned impression, compare questioned impressions, make, or model of an item of footwear or tire from an image or video, and write reports and provide testimony.

Officers | Members | Standards | Other Work Products

Officers

David Kanaris, Subcommittee Chair, Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory

Christopher Hamburg, Subcommittee Vice Chair, ANSI National Accreditation Board (Quality Task Group representative)

Natasha Wheatley, Subcommittee Executive Secretary, ADA County Sheriff's Office

Members

Footwear and Tire Affiliate List

Standards

On the OSAC Registry

• ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 021, Best Practices for the Preparation of Test Impressions from Footwear and Tires, 2019, 1st Ed. (added May 4, 2021).
• ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 049, Best Practice Recommendation for Lifting of Footwear and Tire Impressions, 2020, 1st Ed. (added September 7, 2021).
• ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 050, Best Practice Recommendation for Photographic Documentation of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence, 2021, 1^st Ed. (Errata 1, 2022). (added September 5, 2023).
•  ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 052, Best Practice Recommendation for the Detection and Collection of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence, 2022, 1st Ed. (added July 5, 2023).
•  ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 126, Best Practice Recommendation for Casting Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence at the Crime Scene, 2020, 1st Ed. (Errata 1, 2022) (added April 4, 2023).

Published by a Standards Developing Organization (SDO) & Eligible for the OSAC Registry

• ASB Technical Report 051, Scope of Work for a Footwear/Tire Examiner, 2020, 1st Ed. 
• ANSI/ASB Standard 095, Standard for Minimum Qualifications and Training for a Footwear/Tire Forensic Science Service Provider, 2020, 1st Ed.
• ASB Technical Report 097, Terminology Used for Forensic Footwear and Tire Evidence, 2019, 1st Ed.
• ANSI/ASB Standard 099, Standard for Footwear/Tire Examination Proficiency Testing Program, 2020, 1st Ed.
• ANSI/ASB Standard 137, Standard for Examination and Documentation of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence, 2023, 1st Ed. 

Under Development

• OSAC 2022-S-0032, Best Practice Recommendation for the Chemical Processing of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence.
• OSAC 2023-S-0017, Standard for the Articulation of Footwear and Tire Interpretations.
• Best Practice Recommendation for Examination and Documentation of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence.
• Best Practice Recommendation for Footwear and Tire Intelligence.
• Best Practice Recommendation for Verification and Review.
• Best Practice Recommendation for Task Relevant Information and Human Factors Guidance.

Other Work Products

Process Maps

• Footwear & Tire Examination Process Map (Current Practice), June 9, 2022. 

Reference Documents

Note: Subcommittee position statements or responses to data collections by the subcommittee do not necessarily represent the position of OSAC or NIST.

• OSAC Footwear & Tire Subcommittee's Response to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology's (PCAST) Request for Information – Submitted December 2015
• Foundational Studies Related to Footwear Impression Evidence
• Tread Forensics

Research & Development Needs

• See the research and development needs identified by the Footwear & Tire Subcommittee.

Webinars, Presentations & Training Videos

• OSAC Footwear & Tire Tread Subcommittee Update at the International Association for Identification (IAI) Conference, August 2018.

Discipline-Specific Bibliographies and Bibliographic References

These documents may contain information to help forensic scientists, judges, lawyers, researchers, and other readers better understand the nature, scope, and foundations of the individual disciplines as currently practiced. The identification of these documents does not represent an endorsement by OSAC or NIST. Only standards that are posted on the OSAC Registry and Technical Guidance documents, are endorsed by OSAC. The referenced documents may be subject to copyright. Note: Subcommittee position statements or responses to data collections by the subcommittee do not necessarily represent the position of OSAC or NIST.

• SWGTREAD 01 Guide for the Collection of Footwear and Tire Impressions in the Field 200503
• SWGTREAD 02 Guide for the Collection of Footwear and Tire Impressions in the Laboratory 200503
• SWGTREAD 03 Guide for the Detection of Footwear and Tire Impressions in the Field 200503
• SWGTREAD 04 Guide for the Detection of Footwear and Tire Impressions in the Laboratory 200503
• SWGTREAD 06 Scope of Work Relating to Forensic Footwear and/or Tire Tread Examiners 200503
• SWGTREAD 07 Guide for Minimum Qualifications and Training for a Forensic Footwear and/or Tire Tread Examiner 200603
• SWGTREAD 08 Guide for the Examination of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence 200603
• SWGTREAD 09 Guide for the Forensic Documentation and Photography of Footwear and Tire Impressions at the Crime Scene 200603
• SWGTREAD 10 Range of Conclusions Standard for Footwear and Tire Impression Examinations 201303
• SWGTREAD 13 Guide for Casework Documentation 200803
• SWGTREAD 14 Guide for the Chemical Enhancement of Bloody Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence 200809
• SWGTREAD 15 Standard for Terminology Used for Forensic Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence 201303

Reference Books:

• Abbott, John, “Footwear Evidence”, Charles C. Thomas Publishing, 1964.
• Bodziak, William, “Footwear Impression Evidence: Detection, Recovery and Examination” (1st Edition), Elsevier Science Publishing Co., 1990.
• Bodziak, William, “Footwear Impression Evidence: Detection, Recovery and Examination” (2nd edition) CRC Press, 2000.
• Bodziak, William, “Tire Impression and Tire Track Evidence: Recovery and Examination”, CRC Press, February 2008.
• Bodziak, William, “Forensic Footwear Evidence”  CRC Press, 2017
• Cassidy, Michael, “Footwear Identification”, Canadian Government Publishing, 1980.
• Deforest, Peter; Gaensslen, Robert; Lee, Henry, “Forensic Science - An Introduction to Criminalistics”, McGraw-Hill, 1983.
• Fisher, Barry, “Techniques in Crime Scene Investigation” (6th edition), CRC Press, 2002.
• Given, Bruce W; Nehrich; Richard B. and Shields, James C., “Tire Tracks and Tread Marks”, Gulf Publishing Company, Book Division, Houston, Texas, 1977.
• Hilderbrand, Dwane, “Footwear, The Missed Evidence”, Staggs Publishing Co., 1999.
• Kiely, Terrence, “Forensic Evidence: Science and the Criminal Law”, CRC Press, 2001.
• McDonald, Peter, “Tire Imprint Evidence”, CRC Press, Raton, Florida, 1989.
• Nause, Lawren, “Forensic Tire Impression Identification”, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2001.