Learn About Crime Scene Measurements

Forensic crime scene reconstruction is a valuable tool utilized by both forensic experts and attorneys to help show the facts and details of an event as well as to argue their case to a jury. Anyone familiar with Star Trek should have fond memories of how the crew often utilized the “holodeck” on the show. 

Often, the holodeck was used in a forensics capacity to solve crimes or mysteries by utilizing it as a futuristic crime scene measurement tools. 

Virtual Reality is starting to be utilized today in the field of crime scene reconstruction to help the jury get a very accurate and realistic virtual reality tour of what happened at the scene of the incident or crime.

Crime scene reconstruction is the forensic science discipline in which one gains “explicit knowledge of the series of events that surround the commission of a crime using deductive and inductive reasoning, physical evidence, scientific methods, and their interrelationships.

There are several steps involved in converting an actual crime scene into a virtual crime scene that can be shown in court. The process of creating a virtual reality crime scene reconstruction often starts with a 3D Laser Scanner. 

The 3D scanner is clearly advantageous to use for creating crime scene reconstruction for many criminal cases, however, this technology has other forensic applications including many types of crimes, situations, and events. Other types of cases that can utilize a 3D scanner and reconstruction include:

• Traffic collisions

• Train, plane, or public transportation crashes

• Snowboarding or skiing accidents

• Personal Injury cases, slip and falls, etc.

• Vandalism, arson, etc.

• Terrorist attacks or bombings

• Active shooter scenarios, mass shootings, or murder-suicide incidents

• Riots or civil unrest

• High-speed car chases, police pursuits, illegal street racing

Once the 3D laser scan is uploaded to a computer, it can be rendered into a 3D model of the crime scene using a CAD (computer-aided drafting) program. Using crime scene reconstruction software, the laser scan can be viewed as a virtual “tour” of the crime scene. 

A jury can virtually walk through an entire crime scene and view every detail of the room, building, or environment and see it in the first person just as the detectives and forensic technicians did when the crime was originally being investigated.