Name: ________________________________________ Date: __________________ Period: _____
Vocabulary – Casts and Impressions
Chapter 15 (pg. 536—545)
1. tread pattern Bottom impression of a shoe or tire
2. latent impressions Impressions that are not visible but are present
3. patent impressions Impressions caused by transfer of foreign material onto a surface
4. plastic impressions Impressions deposited in a material that retains the shape of the
object (like dirt, snow, clay)
5. ground penetrating radar Method that uses radar pulses to get an image below ground
6. Sole The pattern on the bottom of a shoe
7. Tire groove A depression in the tread pattern of a tire
8. Casting impressions Making a solid representation (cast) of an impression in order to
preserve it.
1. What is the first step that must be taken before moving or handling an impression at a crime scene?
Photograph the impression so you have a backup picture of it
2. Name two procedures used to preserve impressions that cannot be submitted to the laboratory.
Lifting and Casting
3. What is SICAR and how is it useful in comparing impressions?
Shoeprint Image Capture and Retrieval – an automated shoe print identification system
developed in England that incorporates multiple databases to search known and
unknown footwear files for comparison against footwear specimens.
4. How would you go about collecting impressions in each of the following situations?
a. You discover a shoe print in dry dirt Photograph the print
b. You discover a tool mark on a windowsill Photograph, then make a cast
c. You discover tire marks in soft earth Photograph, then make a cast
d. You discover a shoe print on a loose piece of tile Photograph, then bring the tile to the lab
e. You discover a very faint show print in dust on a colored linoleum floor.
Photograph, then use electrostatic lifting device to lift it off the surface
5. A wear pattern can impart (class, individual) characteristics to a shoe.
6. Shoe and tire marks impressed into soft earth at a crime scene are best preserved by Photography
and casting.