Conference proceedings

RTI International, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCoE) present the proceedings from the 2015 Impression, Pattern, and Trace Evidence Symposium (IPTES). The IPTES was held August 25–27 in San Antonio, Texas, as the first joint symposium to promote collaboration, enhance knowledge transfer, and share best practices and policies for the impression, pattern, and trace evidence forensic science communities. This symposium convened practitioners and researchers to promote information-sharing and collaboration among the law enforcement, legal, and impression, pattern, and trace evidence communities. During this 3-day event, leading experts in their respective fields presented to an audience of nearly 600 attendees. The presentations focused on topics that included the latest developments and novel approaches to fingerprint, shoeprint, and tire tread evidence; questioned documents; bloodstain pattern analysis; biometrics; firearms/toolmarks; digital photography; and fibers, paint, tape, and other types of evidence as well as addressing error rates, testimony, interpretation/reporting, case studies, and technology applications. The proceedings include author information, abstracts, keywords, and type of presentation.