Individuals who work in forensic engineering take on difficult jobs that can help determine guilt of innocence in the event of mechanical malfunction that leads to personal injury. For this reason, individuals seeking employment in forensic engineering should already possess a thorough knowledge of general engineering, mechanical malfunction and repairs, and a basic knowledge of product liability. Most often, the evidence found in a forensic engineering investigation will be used in civil or criminal law cases, making forensic engineers an important part in the legal proceedings. The father of modern-day forensic science, Dr. Edmond Locard, reasoned that "every contact leaves a trace." This means that when one object touches another object in some way, evidence of some kind exists to prove