Forensics Class Collecting Toy Cars

A row of thirty miniature cars is lined up across the table: McDonald’s toy cars, Hot Wheels, you name it, all types and sizes – from a Matchbox car to a Tonka truck. This is not a toy store display, but the scene in Leesa Wingo’s forensics science class. And Wingo is looking for even more cars. She is collecting them for a forensic tire print analysis.

“It’s too cold for real tires on real cars,” said Wingo. Instead, students will use tempura paint and toy cars to make base line tire tracks. Then given three unknowns, students must identify the two most likely cars.