Recovered leather exhibits from crime scenes or the person 2019-2024

Request

1. Between the dates September 2019 - May 2024, have you recovered any leather exhibits from crime scenes or the person?

2. If yes to question 1, please provide a breakdown of types of leather exhibits recovered and number per year (clothing - jacket for example; footwear; furniture; weapon sheath - knife, gun, other; animal lead; wallet; belt; handbag).

3. If the leather exhibits were submitted to a Chemical Development (Fingermark Enhancement) Laboratory, please disclose what fingermark development methods were used on the leather exhibits and if they were successfully used to visualise fingermarks.

4. Please disclose if the fingermarks on leather exhibits successfully yielded any identifications.

5. If yes to question 4, please provide data as to how many identifications were yielded from leather exhibits.

Response

Our Senior Forensic Laboratory Officer has informed me of the following ‘Leather isn’t a surface type that lends itself to chemical treatment. Soft leathers textured or patterned are not usually authorised, unless its exceptional circumstances, and then it’s to assess suitability. Patent, glossy leather with a smooth surface can be treated, and if anything, we may consider treatment if there are plastic windows on the inside of wallets/purses. I am aware of ongoing studies around leather which were presented at the last FEL conference which seemed promising, but I haven’t been made aware of any further guidance surrounding these types of items.

In conclusion, between September 2019 - May 2024, we have not found any records where we have chemically treated leather to develop fingerprints.

Please note, every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that data has been extracted from data sources used by this force for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording systems and information assets.

The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures/data for any requests may have limitations, and this should be taken into account when those data are used

Police forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures for capturing the data. For these reasons this response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with responses you may receive from other police forces.