Crime Scene Investigation
24
Operations
It is often said, investigators get one chance to view a crime scene before it potentially becomes altered. For this reason, law enforcement began preserving crime scenes with photographs in the mid-19th century. El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office takes great effort to preserve crime scenes with video, photographs, and crime scene diagrams - a
time consuming but important part of the job. In 2018, the Crime Scene Investigation unit added a new piece of technology that is revolutionizing the way we document crime scenes. Rather than supplementing video and photos with sketches of scenes using manual measuring devices, they are now able to automate the process using laser technology.
The FARO 3D Scanner is a device used to capture crime scenes with near exact precision. It not only takes 360 degree photographs with a push of a button, it measures every visible object in the scene with laser beams. The FARO scanner emits infrared beams into a rotating mirror which bounces off objects in the scene and records a digital "point" in a virtual "cloud". The FARO records up to 976,000 points per second which results in an astounding 40 million points of reference with every 8 minute scan. When you compound the points captured in the numerous scans taken in one scene, it’s
hard to fathom the amount of data that is preserved.
What does this all mean? This creates a permanent record of a scene that investigators can move through, examine, measure, and analyze months or years after the fact. The accuracy of the device coupled with the high-tech software allows tracking bullet trajectories and blood spatter origins a few mouse clicks away. Although traditional crime scene photography remains, the FARO takes 360 degree photographs that allow the viewer to "look around" the scene in a 3-dimensional environment, after the fact. Investigators, administrators, attorneys, judges, and juries
will have the ability to virtually stand inside the crime scene in high resolution.
Whether the result is a top-down view of a house's floor plan, a 3D printed shoe print, or a measurable flight path of a bullet, Crime Scene Investigators are excited to have this new technology available as a resource and are prepared to utilize the FARO scanner to solve the toughest cases. The Sheriff’s Office continues to display their commitment to a modern approach through the utilization of cutting edge technology in Crime Scene Investigation.