A mark of crime

After fingerprints, DNA and footwear, gloves and glove marks are the next most retrieved exhibits at crime scenes in Derbyshire. Historically, however, very little has been done with this type of evidence, with most glove marks obtained from a scene being put to one side and later destroyed. That was until Derbyshire Constabulary began utilising this valuable form of evidence, developing a glove mark database that has proved its worth in helping to identify and bring to justice repeat offenders. Damian Small reports.

Perhaps the most important aspect of glove mark evidence is that in some instances, a glove mark can be just as unique as a fingerprint itself. The same skills a fingerprint officer applies to a latent print can also be applied to some glove marks to help identify an offender.
It began in the summer of 2007, when University of Derby forensic science student Gemma Rothwell began a work experience placement at Derbyshire Constabulary.
Ms Rothwell began to research the value of glove mark evidence.
“Initial work focused on the examination of glove marks retrieved from crime scenes, as well as the study of actual gloves,” said Liane Marsh, forensic identification officer at Derbyshire Constabulary.
It soon became apparent that distinct geometrical patterns could be identified on the different types of gloves.
Unfortunately, Ms Rothwell’s placement soon came to an end so in September 2007, Ms Marsh continued to push forward with building an evidential database of retrieved glove marks.
Initially, Ms Marsh was assigned to the glove mark database project for one day a week, but by April 2008, it soon became clear that more time should be channelled into what was proving to be a useful tool of detection.
Last year, 1,500 crime scene marks were added to the database from around 1,000 cases.
Reasonable successes before the official rollout had led to a number of perpetrators being apprehended, so the opportunity was created for Ms Marsh to spend much more time developing the forensic resource. 
“After further work, I developed a coding system that allowed all crime scene marks obtained by scene examiners and sent to the fingerprint bureau to be studied and assigned a searchable code,” said Ms Marsh.
The coding system can be applied to both glove marks lifted from a crime scene as well as physical evidence – a glove retrieved from, or near to, the scene of a crime, for example.
All crime scene marks from Derbyshire Constabulary have been added to the database and recent funding for the projects has allowed Ms Marsh to collect a library of glove types that have also been added to the database.
There are hundreds of gloves available to buy but Ms Marsh has been selective in her glove collecting duties. “We have attempted to react to crime trends, purchasing the types of gloves similar to those favoured by criminals. A test impression of the gloves is made and added to the database in a bid to stay ahead of the criminals as well as extending the database.”

Using the database
According to Home Office statistics, 50 per cent of all crime is committed by ten per cent of individuals; prolific offenders who are forensically aware and are likely to don a pair of gloves before committing a burglary, for example.
“When examining glove mark evidence, essentially it is a study of the glove’s material,” said Ms Marsh. “There is always a link between the crime scene mark and the type of material used to make the glove.”
Upon examining a crime scene mark lifted from a scene, Ms Marsh can instantly give investigating officers an intelligence report detailing what type of glove has made such a mark.
A perpetrator wearing gloves will touch their skin, hair etc, picking up contaminants that are then transferred from the glove’s material to an object’s surface. What is left behind is an impression of the pattern of the glove. The glove mark is replicated just as a fingerprint is.
Gloves manufactured with both porous an