Law-enforcement technologyLaser scanner documents crimes scenes quickly, accurately

The Carlsbad, California police has received a device to help police officers  determe what happened at a crime scene. Carlsbad police Lieutenant Matt Magro said the device, a smooth black box that fits on a tripod, is the future of preserving images at a crime scene. Margo thinks the new technology will cut the time it takes to document a crime scene,from the size of the room to the bullet holes in the wall, by up to 80 percent.

Union-Tribune San Diegoreports that it also could allow jurors  virtually to step into a crime scene without actually bring at the site.

The device, called a FARO Laser Scanner 3D, takes a photo of crime scenes in 360 degrees in less than ten minutes.

The laser scanner cost around $52,000 and the software $8,000, Margo told the Union-Tribune.  and the department paid for the scanner with money from a 2009 grant.

“As law enforcement tries to advance with technology, this type of tool will be essential to us,” Magro said.

Once the images are taken and uploaded into a computer, investigators can click any two points in the room for information, such as how far a murder weapon is from a body. They can also zoom in on objects, such as a shell casing or a murder weapons.

The Carlsbad police received the laser scanner last summer and the department’s evidence specialists have used it in two separate homicides since.

Until the laser scanner passes the legal test in San Diego County courts, Carlsbad police will also use traditional methods, which include still photographs, sketches, and measuring objects from point to point.

Under traditional methods, measuring and documenting a crime scene can take anywhere from a few hours to several days, and for a big crime scene, it can take more time. In 2010 technicians documented a shooting at the Kelly Elementary School. The scene took ten people and a full day in the field, according to Bryanna Toussaint, a Carlsbad police crime specialist.

Toussaint told theo Union-Tribune, that a recent crime scene took three people and more than two hours to draw sketches and measure the area, the laser scanner did the same job in just thirty minutes.

“It will save time,” Toussaint said. “But more importantly, it’s accurate.”

The Carlsbad department  is the first local law enforcement agency in San Diego County to use the laser scanner, so it is not familiar in the county’s courts.

Randy Mize, the chief deputy of the county Public Defender’s office, wrote in an e-mail to the Union-Tribune last week stating that defense attorneys will likely challenge the technology the first time a prosecutor uses it.

According to Mize, the first legal issues will be questioning just how generally accepted the new technology is. Beyond that it is too soon to know what other legal questions could arise.