Trace Evidence
📋 What it is
Trace evidence is the tiny material (hair, fibres, soil) transferred between people, objects, and places.
🗣️ Coach says
Locard’s principle: “every contact leaves a trace.” Touch something and you leave a bit of yourself and take a bit away — a fibre, a hair, some soil. Forensics reads these tiny transfers to link a person to a place.
🧠 Memory hook
Every contact leaves a trace — a fibre taken, a fibre left.
😂 Giggle
Why was the crime scene investigator such a good friend?
They always dusted off your problems!
😲 Whoa!
A single carpet fibre or paint chip has solved real cases — forensic labs can match a fibre to a specific carpet or a paint flake to a specific car model.
✅ Quick check: What does Locard’s “every contact leaves a trace” mean for a crime scene?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Whoever was there left something (a hair, fibre) and took something away — those traces can link them to the scene.
Two-way transfer of trace material connects a person to a place.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Run a piece of tape over your sleeve and look at the trace (lint, hair). That’s trace evidence.