This first part of a two-part series on forensic podiatry discusses the role of forensic podiatrists as a member of the forensic team.
A forensic podiatrist may be involved in collecting and analyzing a number of different types of evidence. This includes the examination of footprints, either made by bare feet or sock-clad feet, which may be visible due to a person walking on fresh blood at a crime scene. Occasionally, there may be a sufficient number of consecutive foot impressions to permit gait analysis, which can be useful in identifying a deformity or biomechanical imbalance linked to a particular individual. Foot profiling can be used to determine an individual's height or shoe size. Other possibilities can include determination of gender and a specific foot type. A forensic podiatrist may also examine foot impressions in a substrate, or footwear, particularly when there is a question about the predominant wearer or ownership of the questioned footwear. A footwear examiner may be able to make a positive identification between questioned footwear impressions and a suspect's shoe, but the suspect may deny ownership of the shoes, or a footwear examiner's findings may be inconclusive. When this occurs, there may be sufficient clues for a forensic podiatrist to establish the suspect as the predominant wearer of the questioned footwear. A forensic podiatrist can consider all the relevant variables, such as the quality of the evidence, shoe condition, or extent of wear. This article describes qualifications of a forensic podiatrist; how to work with a forensic podiatrist in the course of an investigation; the collection of exemplars for case evaluation (bare footprint/outline, gait pattern, foot measurement, foam-block impression, and photographs); and levels of certainty in a forensic podiatrist's examination of evidence.