Types and distribution of the friction ridge patterns on the ball area of the bare footprint

The comparison of footprints to establish positive identification of individuals is an accepted practice. Due to the poor clarity and limited quantity of friction ridge skin detail in the bare footprint at crime scenes, it can prove challenging and problematic to locate the part of the foot that made the print. The aim of the present study is to analyse the types and its distributions of patterns in the ball area of the footprint. The samples comprise 1 460 adults. Results show that loops, whorls, and arches have been found in the ball area of the footprint. In the inner zone, loops are 65.51% of all the patterns, in which vertical loop-down is the most common pattern. In the mid zone, 54.04% of the samples only have vertical loop-down as the single pattern, and 7.71% show multiple patterns, with particularly nine types of multiple patterns found. In the outer zone, patterns are very rare. Only 5.45% of the samples have horizontal loop-outer, and 0.27% of the samples are vertical loop-down. Different patterns in the ball area of the foot show different frequencies of appearance. The shapes of patterns are different in each area of the foot. The examination of the patterns in the bare footprint could be a possibility of locating a certain position of the origin foot.