In the United Kingdom, the police manage to confuse criminals by identifying… their shoes

It is now possible to identify a criminal just with a photo of his shoes thanks to a 3D database developed by the scientific police across the Channel.

It feels like a scenario from the series The experts. Imagine that a hooded burglar enters your home and steals your magnificent stamp collection. Today, even if everything was recorded by a camera, if the thief left no clue, it will be very difficult to find him. But if, on the video, we manage to see at least one of his shoes, we will have a chance of identifying him.

Because all shoes have unique marks like creases, scratches, or deformations related to the shape of the foot. So if we can distinguish these marks in a photo or video and then find them on a suspect’s shoes, this will provide an excellent clue.

And so, it’s something that we know how to do today thanks to real experts. Not The experts in Miamibut “the experts in West Yorkshire” since it is a technique developed by the county forensic police and Staffordshire University, England.

Right now, they’re creating a database of 3D-scanned shoes so they can be viewed from any angle. This will make it possible, firstly, to very quickly identify the model worn by a criminal in a photo or video. Today, it is far from obvious. Because the images are often shot at night by infrared cameras. So the colors have nothing to do with it. But with their system, everything will be automatic.

A pilot program deployed from 2024

This will allow much more precise information to be provided when issuing a wanted notice. And when a suspect is apprehended, we will scan his shoes and compare all the distinctive marks with those in the photos to try to obtain evidence.

A pilot program in several police stations will be launched at the start of next year to test the effectiveness of the system. It’s pretty smart to have thought of the shoes. We see it in the television news: more and more delinquents are filmed either by surveillance cameras or by cell phones. Except that they often have their faces masked, they are dressed all in black. The only distinctive sign in the end were the shoes… You still had to be able to identify them.