How to Get More Than One Shot at Crime Scene Documentation

Sept. 16, 2013 – Have you ever had a case where you badly needed to understand the relationship (distance) between two objects at a scene, but nobody thought to grab that particular measurement at the time because, hey, who knew THAT would be important? Even veteran CSIs have to make a lot of decisions at every crime scene about what gets documented at a scene and what doesn’t.

 Return to the Crime Scene in 3D

The bedrock principle of homicide investigation teaches that “you only get one shot at the crime scene.” However, technology is changing that assumption. With 3D laser scanning, homicide investigators now have the ability to virtually return to the pristine crime scene as laser scanned to extract with confidence survey-quality measurements long after the scene has been released.

3D laser scanning is objective, not subjective, about what gets recorded. It protects investigators from overlooking what later on may turn out to be the key evidence. You don’t know what you don’t know, and scanning impartially captures everything, thus taking away most of the human factor and all of the potential bias about only documenting “what’s important.” Additionally, witness viewpoints can easily be constructed to allow investigators to corroborate or disprove witness statements.

The New CSI Tool Kit

With 3D laser scanning, the “only one shot” principle of homicide investigation is out the window, along with your pocket tapes, “roll-a-guess” measuring wheels and total station. This means you can focus on solving the crime rather than documenting the crime scene. It’s a much simpler tool kit that provides substantially better results, giving you a true picture of all the evidence long after you’ve left the scene.

To explore how laser scanning can assist your agency, please contact us.

 

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