The fashion consciousness of burglars as well as new emerging crime patterns will form the basis of a talk at the University of Leicester on June 8, from 1pm to 2pm.
Dr John Bond, a Fellow of the Department of Chemistry, will deliver a talk, ‘Forensic Data Analysis’ in the Department of Criminology. It is open to staff and students.<br><br>The talk will focus on numerous projects carried out jointly between the University of Leicester and Northamptonshire Police that have sought to understand more about how and why forensic science can solve crime for the police. <br><br>Dr Bond said: "A number of projects will be discussed in which the research has been carried out by postgraduate students from the university. These include a consideration of emerging crime types that are still being understood, such as the phenomenon of car key burglary in which an offender will break into a house in order to acquire the keys to steal a car and studies of the value of fingerprints and DNA in solving crime.<br><br>"I will also talk about what might appear at first glance to be studies with little practical relevance to the police. In this category falls a study of the fashion consciousness of burglars. Although this work might appear to have little relevance, this research was, in fact, the first ever study to show how physical evidence recovered from the crime scene (in this case footwear impressions) could be used to profile the offender. This study was able to link, via a mathematical equation known as a multiple regression, the cost of footwear worn by burglars to their age, employment status and how socially deprived the area in which they lived was.<br><br>"It sounds strange and way out – but this is typical of the ground breaking research that I and colleagues at the University of Leicester have been carrying out for a number of years to assist the police in solving more crime with forensic science."<br><br>Dr Bond said that interest amongst students in forensic science is more popular than ever and there are no shortage of students wishing to be involved in this research that has a real practical benefit – solving crime.<br><br> * Members of the public wishing to attend should contact [email protected] in advance.<br><br>For later seminars this year visit this link – <br><br>http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/criminology/news/seminars
