Shoe print database tops 8,000 entries

The latest edition of ‘SoleMate’, Foster & Freeman’s collection of manufacturers’ shoe prints, has been released with details of over 8,000 shoes gathered from over 300 manufacturers. Although a stand-alone database with browsing facilities, SoleMate is most often used in conjunction with SICAR, the company’s shoe-print evidence management system.

SICAR enables scene of crime and suspects’ shoe prints to be scanned, recorded and compared in an attempt to link a suspect to a crime. Shoe print matching is achieved by comparing a number of individual sole pattern features, identified and coded by the operator by reference to a table of standard pattern features supplied with SICAR.

In cases where a direct link cannot be made between a suspect and a crime, the SoleMate database can be used to identify the unknown shoe through a pattern search, as all records in SoleMate are comprehensively ‘pattern coded’. SoleMate yields a shoe’s manufacturer, its model reference, its date of introduction and various pictorial images to provide the investigating officer with essential information to further the enquiry.

Where different manufacturers have used the same sole unit, SoleMate records are linked to allow the operator to take into consideration the range of possible footwear that could have made the crime scene print and to provide some indication of how common the sole unit is.

SoleMate is continually updated and distributed to subscribers every three months on DVD.

For more information contact;
Jane O’Brien
Foster & Freeman Ltd.

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