Combined interpretation of objective firearm evidence comparison algorithms using Bayesian networks.

Traditionally, firearm and toolmark examiners manually evaluate the similarity of features on two bullets using comparison microscopy. Advances in microscopy have made it possible to collect 3D topographic data, and several automated comparison algorithms have been introduced for the comparison of bullet striae using these data. In this study, open-source approaches for cross-correlation, congruent matching profile segments, consecutive matching striations, and a random forest model were evaluated.