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 | Discipline-Specific Baseline Documents | Research & Development Needs | Presentations

Officers

David Kanaris, Subcommittee Chair, Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory

Rodney Schenck, Subcommittee Vice Chair, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Christopher Hamburg, Subcommittee Executive Secretary, ANSI National Accreditation Board (Quality Representative)

Members

Affiliates and Task Group Participants

Standards

Tier 1: On the OSAC Registry

• None currently.

Tier 2: Published by a Standards Developing Organization (SDO)

• ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 021, Best Practices for the Preparation of Test Impressions from Footwear and Tires, First Edition, 2019. 
• ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 049, Best Practice Recommendation for Lifting of Footwear and Tire Impressions, First Edition, 2020.
• ASB Technical Report 051, Scope of Work for a Footwear/Tire Examiner, First Edition, 2020. 
• ANSI/ASB Standard 095, Standard for Minimum Qualifications and Training for a Footwear/Tire Forensic Science Service Provider, First Edition, 2020.
• ASB Technical Report 097, Terminology Used for Forensic Footwear and Tire Evidence, First Edition, 2019.
• ANSI/ASB Standard 099, Standard for Footwear/Tire Examination Proficiency Testing Program, First Edition, 2020.
• ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 126, Best Practice Recommendation for Casting Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence at the Crime Scene, First Edition, 2020.

Tier 3: Sent to an SDO

• Best Practice Recommendation for Photographic Documentation of Footwear and Tire Evidence.
• Best Practice Recommendation for the Detection of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence.
• Standard for Examination and Documentation of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence.

Tier 4: Under Development

• Best Practice Recommendation for Examination and Documentation of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence.
• Best Practice Recommendation for the Chemical Processing of Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence.
• Best Practice Recommendation for Articulation, Interpretation, and Conclusions in Footwear and Tire Report Writing and Testimony.

Discipline-Specific Baseline Documents

The Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB) has provided the opportunity for OSAC subcommittees to identify baseline documents and reference materials that best reflect the current state of the practice within their respective disciplines. 

These documents contain practical information regarding these disciplines that can help forensic scientists, judges, lawyers, researchers, other interested parties and the general public, to better understand the nature, scope, and foundations of the individual disciplines as they are currently practiced.

It is important to note that the identification of these documents in this venue does not represent an endorsement by OSAC or NIST. Only documents that are posted on the OSAC Registry constitute OSAC endorsement. All copyrights for these documents are reserved by their owners. Subcommittee position statements or responses to data collections by the subcommittee represent the consensus opinion of the subcommittee, not necessarily the position of the entire OSAC organization 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
• 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 05 Guide for the Preparation of Test Impressions From Footwear and Tires 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 11 Guide for Casting Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence 200703
• SWGTREAD 12 Guide for Lifting Footwear and Tire Impression Evidence 200703
• 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
• Tread Forensics
• Foundational Studies Related to Footwear Impression Evidence

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.

Research & Development Needs

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

Presentations

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