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The Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science

Trace Evidence Collection App is Available Now

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Image of Trace Evidence Collection App
With the Trace Evidence Collection App users can reference descriptions of different types trace evidence, information about where trace evidence might be encountered in crime scenes, and instructions for outlining the collection and packaging of trace evidence.
Credit: Image courtesy of the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence

The Outreach Task Group of OSAC's Trace Materials Subcommittee, in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCoE) have developed a Trace Evidence Collection App to assist crime scene teams and law enforcement officers with the recognition, collection, and preservation of trace evidence. 

The mobile app, launched in November 2021, is intended to accompany the Trace Materials Crime Scene Investigation Guide. The guide was created by the Outreach Task Group of OSAC's Trace Materials Subcommittee with input from other OSAC subcommittees. This task group consisted of members of the trace evidence and crime scene communities and was formed to create a practical, quick reference guide for crime scene teams to use for the recognition, collection, and preservation of trace evidence. 

Members of OSAC and NIST approached FTCoE with the idea of adapting the content from the Trace Materials Crime Scene Investigation Guide into a mobile application, so the guide could be easily accessible and utilized by users in the field, specifically crime scene investigators at the local, state, and federal levels.

The Trace Evidence Collection App is available to download for both Apple iOS and Google Android devices and contains:

  • The entirety of the Trace Materials Crime Scene Investigation Guide, including information on types of trace evidence commonly encountered by crime scene investigators.
  • A range of images and videos to provide further detail and instruction to the user for evidence collection techniques.
  • Interactive checklists providing best practice approaches for processing specific crime scene types.
  • A dynamic backend foundation that allows for rapid and seamless updating of the application’s content, so the mobile app can maintain the same version control as the Trace Materials Crime Scene Investigation Guide.

For links to download, please go to the Trace Evidence Collection App's page on the FTCoE website: https://forensiccoe.org/trace-evidence-collection-mobile-app/

Please provide any feedback you have about the app in FTCoE's User Feedback Questionnaire and contact forensiccoe [at] rti.org (ForensicCOE[at]rti[dot]org) for any questions.

Created December 14, 2021, Updated December 16, 2021