UNIT II.

TRACE AND CONTACT EVIDENCE

Learning objective
After this activity I am able to:
● Identify sources of trace evidence
● Describe techniques used to recover trace evidences
● Determine classification and characterization techniques used to analyze trace evidence

Trace evidence
Normally very small amounts of material such as textile fibers, glass, paint, etc., which can serve to link an item
on which material is found with an otherwise unconnected source of it elsewhere. Implies that there has been
direct physical contact between the item and the source. Textile fibers and paint (normally as dry flakes) are
commonly encountered.

Potential Traces
Essentially the analyst has to assess, in evidential terms, whether and to what extent it might be worth looking
for each of the various potential types of trace material which could have been transferred in a particular case
and to select and pursue those which promise to be the most useful.
To consider:
● How much material is likely to have been transferred in the first place.
● How well this might have persisted.
● The ease with which the searcher is likely to find it.
● The evidential value of any trace material found.
Amount of material transfer will be based on:
● The amount of material available for transfer.
● The nature of the recipient surface.
● The nature and duration of the contact.

Almost anything can give rise to traces of evidential importance, so the surfaces on which to search for them
can be of endless variety. The length of time particulate trace material can be recovered from surfaces to which
it has been transferred depends on several factor:
● The physical size of the material itself.
● The nature of the surface of the material.
● The nature of the recipient surface.
● The time that elapses after the transfer occurred and before evidence of it is searched for.
Material which can produce smears as a result of contact, forms a physical bond with the receiving surface. The
more commonly occurring the evidence is, it is likely to be, perhaps in a particular setting, the less strong the
link it is capable of providing with one nominated potential source.

Recovery of Trace Materials

There is no single technique for recovering trace material. Use the one which suits a particular material and
the surface(s) from which it is to be recovered. The range of potential combinations of traces and the locations
from which they have to be recovered is almost infinite and it is not unusual for the forensic scientist to have to
devise a novel approach to suit a particular set of circumstances.

Shaking
● most suitable methods for recovering loose particulate material such as glass fragments
● involves gently shaking a garment over, say, a sheet of paper or into a specially designed, inverted,
metal cone and collecting the debris that falls off it
Brushing
● it is common for debris to be collected by brushing the surface with a (new/clean) tooth or paint brush,
again collecting the debris on a piece of paper, or in a suitable container
Taping
● used principally to recover clothing fibres and hairs
● strips of clear sticky tape, e.g. Sellotape, applied sequentially to and then pulled off surfaces of
garments, car seats, window ledges, the edges of broken glass at a point of entry – in short, almost any
dry surface
Vacuuming
● used to recover minute particulate material in firearm discharge residues (FDR)
● drug residues on bundles of cash acquired in the course of drug-dealing are also routinely recovered in
this way
Swabbing
● an alternative technique for the collection of FDRs, although it is more commonly used to recover small
amounts of smeared material – especially of blood and other body fluids, preparatory to traditional
grouping or DNA profiling tests
Hand Picking
● used in cases where debris of interest is firmly lodged in place
Extracting
● for non-particulate and non-fibrous trace evidence such as oil
Liquids and Gases
● provided that there is sufficient material and it is on a suitable surface, liquids can be simply taken
directly using a pipette or a swab or some other absorbent material
● petrol and various organic solvents, when dealing with these materials, as well as more persistent ones
like paraffin, the item must be sealed in a suitable container and then the air inside the container can be
sampled and analyzed (head-space analysis)

Characterization and Comparison

Glass
● the sharpness and cleanness of their broken edges can provide important information as to how
recently the fragments in question might have been broken and, if found on a smooth surface, how
recently they are likely to have been acquired
● more detailed analysis is normally done by measuring refractive index- can be used as a means of
assessing the rarity
● chemical composition of glass can also be determined using the scanning electron microscope (SEM)
coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX)
Textile Fibers
● tiny broken fragments of the individual fibers, which tend to be extremely thin – finer than a human
hair – and often no more than a millimetre or so in length
● these are carefully searched under a low power microscope
● detailed analysis and comparison falls into three or four main sequential phases, namely: microscopy,
microspectrophotometry (MSP) – sometimes referred to as visible spectrophotometry, thin layer
chromatography (TLC) and, for man-made fibres, infrared spectroscopy (IR)

Paint
● can provide valuable associative evidence in a wide variety of cases
● color is an especially important discriminator
● the type and surface characteristics/condition and/or contamination of the top coat will be noted, as
will the sequence of any underlying layers, their colors, thicknesses, textures and the size and
distribution of particles within them
● microscopical techniques, such as ultraviolet and blue light microscopy and MSP are used to analyze
traces
● a variety of techniques are used in the chemical analysis of paint including SEM EDX,
● IR and pyrolysis gas chromatography (PGC) are both employed to learn about the composition of
organic components of the paint
Hair
● forensic scientists deal with both human and animal hairs
● basic structure of hairs, whether human or animal, is essentially the same.
 ● it consist of an inner core, known as the medulla, surrounded by a cortex and enclosed in a thin outer
layer, the cuticle – all rather like a pencil where the medulla is the lead, the cortex is the wood, and the
cuticle the paint on the outside
● only in the case of hairs with fresh roots may some traditional blood grouping and/or DNA profiling be
possible.
Oils, Greases and Waxes
● usually they are present as light smears on, e.g. clothing
● analysis usually begins with infrared (IR) spectroscopy
● detailed analysis tends to be provided by GC, which gives much more information about the
components of the material and their relative proportions to one another and which can be very
important in identification and comparison
Soil
● tend often to be found as smears on clothing and deposits on shoes
● depending upon the amount of soil available, this may range from a simple comparison of cooler
● and texture, to an analysis of, primarily, its mineral content (clays, chalks and sands) and, possibly, its
organic content (derived from plant material) too
● precise information as to the chemical nature of the samples can be determined by chemical profiling of
its inorganic content, either by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AA) or inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry (ICP)
Vegetation
● a means of linking people or property with outdoor sites where particular plants are growing
● any type of plant material may feature as trace evidence,
● the most informative fragments are those derived from wood (stem/trunk) encountered as splinters,
fragments of chipboard and turnings from drilling etc

References
White, P. (Ed.). (2010). Crime scene to court: the essentials of forensic science. Royal society of chemistry.

Assessing Learning
 Activity 2
TRACE EVIDENCE RECOVERY THROUGH TAPE LIFTING
Name:_______________________________ Score:_________
Course/Year/Section:___________________ Date:__________

Procedure
1. Take a shirt that has been worn but not washed and place the shirt front side up on a clean table.
2. Cut a 6-inch piece of clear packing tape.
3. Press it onto the front and back of the right sleeve until the entire surface of the sleeve has been in
contact with the adhesive side of the tape.
4. Lay the tape, adhesive side down, on to a piece of clear plastic (acetate or you may use one from a clear
plastic folder.).
5. Repeat the procedure separately for the left sleeve, for the front of the shirt, and for the back of the
shirt.
6. Observe under bright lighting and against a solid colored surface.
7. For each tape lift, provide a written description, a material identification if possible, and a potential
source of the material

All content is copyright Christopher Bily, Next Generation Forensic Science Initiative, West Virginia University.

Results

Right Sleeve
Item no. Written Description Identification Source

Left Sleeve
 Item no. Written Description Identification Source

Front of Shirt
Item no. Written Description Identification Source

Back of Shirt
Item no. Written Description Identification Source

Reflection:
i. Are there any re-occuring particular type of trace evidence found in your sample? Explain how the frequency
of occurrence of a particular type of trace evidence would affect its evidentiary value?

ii. What is Locard’s exchange principle and why is it important in the examination of trace evidence?