Burglars in Bradford are being warned they may be stepping into the arms of the law when new footprint evidence comes into force later this month.

Legislation being introduced this month will give police powers to take footprints without consent from burglary suspects and check for links to marks at the scene of unsolved crimes.

Until now, police have been restricted to taking a print when there were specific reasons to suspect someone was responsible for a crime.

Now they will be able to take prints from crime suspects and speculatively look for links to crimes like burglary, in the same way that fingerprinting and DNA techniques are used.

West Yorkshire Police is already leading the way in the use of footwear evidence.

But a senior Bradford detective said the new legislation would bring more burglars to book.

Det Insp Gerry O'Shea, of Bradford North CID, said: "This will undoubtedly lead to more burglars being prosecuted and relieve many innocent members of the public of the trauma when they become victims of crime. I am confident it will lead to many more detections, arrests and convictions."

He added: "Criminal scientific evidence is based on the principle that every contact leaves a trace. It makes sense that if a burglar walks across your kitchen floor he will leave potential footwear evidence.

"The number of occasions that footwear evidence is left at the scene is high. Until now, the problem has been linking the evidence from a scene to a suspect. This will allow us to search a full database of suspects' footwear and put the two together.

"We are very positive towards this. We think it will help us and help the public. Along with DNA and fingerprinting, it is another nail in the burglars' coffin."

The Government's Inspectorate of Constabulary has told police forces which do not have a footwear system in place to review their approach. Research has suggested some forces collect footmarks from as few as 2.5 per cent of burglary scenes.

But West Yorkshire Police is one of two forces leading the way nationally in the use of that type of evidence.

A force spokesman said: "We remain extremely aware of any potential evidence available to us and use it to great effect wherever possible. We have an extremely experienced and dedicated team of staff. This is a significant technique which will be used again in the future."

Detective Sergeant Mark Strother, of Bradford South Vehicle Crime Team, said the force was one of the few to have a footprint database.

A spokesman for the force's Scientific Support Unit said they were using such evidence more than other forces and were at the cutting edge.

The type of shoe, angle of footfall, areas of wear and distribution of weight, or particular damage, are all distinctive factors.

It is hoped a comprehensive database of footwear evidence, which may track serial burglars, will be eventually built up.