Foster & Freeman to distribute improved
shoe print identification system
Foster & Freeman Ltd. is pleased to announce
that it has recently signed an agreement with Locke Scientific
Ltd, a specialist UK software developer, to distribute SICAR,
a shoe print classification, archiving and identification
system. SICAR is widely used by UK and European police forces
for matching shoe prints found at scenes of crime to suspects'
shoes. The company also intends to improve the system and
add new features.
The software enables an operator to create a
description of a shoe print by coding various individual pattern
features and then to search a database of known shoeprints
for those with similar codes. As the search normally throws
up a number of close matches, the operator is also able to
download shoe print images to make visual comparisons. Databases
of scene of crime prints, suspects shoe prints and manufacturers
shoe prints, which include make and model, are created as
part of the system.
As the system relies for its effectiveness on
a reference database of sole prints from all shoes currently
available on the market, the company intends to set up systems
to ensure that new models are added to the database before
they appear on retailer's shelves. This will entail monitoring
and liasing with all manufacturers and distributors supplying
the UK market, although, during the first phase of the project,
this research will be restricted to sports and work shoes,
which represent by far the majority of shoes worn by criminals.
Initially, the database will be offered to
SICAR users at regular intervals on disk but the Company's
ultimate intention is to make the database accessible over
the internet. This will ensure that the user has immediate
access to new shoe prints as soon as they appear on the market.
"The internet is the obvious medium to
use", commented Bob Dartnell, General Manager at Foster
& Freeman, "It's the fastest and most convenient way to distribute
information. And once we are operating over the internet other
features can be added to the system to make it even more effective.
For instance, we will set up the infrastructure to allow users
from different police authorities to exchange information
over the net, allowing shoe print evidence from one county
to be routinely matched with suspects from other counties."
"Once the UK system is operating smoothly
we hope to extend the service to subscribers, world wide.
Although this will require a more sophisticated information
gathering system to ensure we are monitoring all local shoe
manufacturers as well as the well known international brands."
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