Movie-Like Technology Allows Virtual Crime Scene Experience
The days of going to a crime scene and taking measurements by hand may be a thing of the past. New technology that has only ever been utilized on the big screen is making its debut in crime scene cases.
The usage of virtual reality is becoming a reality. It can place an investigator or member of a jury in the shoes of a witness to a crime.
Utilized in an accident that occurred in Zanesville, officers were able to recreate and witness a Christmas Eve accident without actually being there.
When police arrived at the accident, they found the driver outside of the vehicle and a passenger dead, still buckled in the front seat.
The detective tasked with collecting evidence didn’t have a lot to go by because of the wet roadway. Instead of using traditional methods to gather evidence, he set up a high-speed, 3-D laser scanner. This not only takes photos, but also calculates measurements, and makes a model of the accident, it reduces investigation time tenfold.
Detectives used to have to draw out these models by hand with the proportions from measurements they collected. This new technology does this for them. Now, years after accidents, they are still able to show a jury what the scene looked like at the time it happened.
A crime that happened in Kentucky was mapped out the same way, using the 3-D technology. Now the man is serving a life sentence in prison for murder.
Courts in South America have been utilizing this type of technology for a while. They even fit their jurors with virtual reality goggles during trials. Prosecutors in the United States would eventually like to adopt the technology for court cases.
This newer method of constructing crime scenes may change the way that cases are prosecuted. This makes the risk for human error minimal and cases more accurate.
