New footwear scanning technology piloted by MPS

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has been awarded £300,000 of government funding to pilot the introduction of footwear scanning technology in custody suites.

The scanner, created by Chinese technology company Everspry, captures shoeprints of individuals who are arrested and taken into custody and allows the MPS to compare them against those found at other crime scenes.

The scans can then be uploaded onto the National Footwear Database (NFD), which holds more than 50,000 offenders’ shoeprints. Currently 23 forces across England and Wales send data to the NFD automatically.

The scanner, which the MPS has used since October 2014, is the only technology of its type in Europe and the US.

The device will enable forensics teams to access images of footwear from remote locations, reducing the process of developing footprints from five days to two minutes.

An initial pilot at Colindale police station in North West London resulted in the arrest of 76 burglars and showed the scanner could reduce the time and cost of taking individual shoeprints and improve crime detection.

As a result of the new funding, a dedicated unit from the MPS will work in collaboration with the National Footwear Strategic Group to expand the pilot across London, enabling a wider evaluation of its impact on crime to be carried out.

The MPS will also work with forces across the country to develop a national scanning capability.

Commander Simon Letchford said: “The MPS is committed to finding new and innovative ways to use technology, not only to reduce crime but to hold more criminals to account.

“We will have the capability to scan and quickly analyse the shoes of offenders arrested by the police against existing marks from crime scenes. Burglary is already at its lowest level for 40 years and this new tool will only further boost the police’s crime-fighting ability and help keep communities even safer.”

The technology currently costs around £1 per scan, but it is hoped that in time this will reduce to about 1p.

The funding comes from the Police Innovation Fund, which last month allocated around £50 million to forces across England and Wales to pursue innovative and collaborative projects.