When a critical incident occurs, collecting evidence, accurately, and efficiently, is top priority. Detective Cummings Smith in the Phoenix Police Department's Vehicular Crimes Unit handles evidence gathering on a regular basis.
"My job entails investigating serious injury or fatal traffic collisions within the Phoenix Police Department," Smith explained.
Part of collecting evidence in a car wreck is collecting a map of the incident to provide crush and collision data. For years, detectives like Smith have used Google Maps to create 2D images of incidents. Now, new technology is making that 3D.
"The FARO Scene Focus 3D scanner scans a scene in a 360 degree rotation and it shoots out lasers to measure points within the scene," Smith said. "It'll shoot out approximately 10 million points per 360 degree scan and it helps to create a 3D model of the scene."
The scanner is doing precise measurements for Smith, and generating a 3D map, instead of him creating one. It does all this quickly, and accurately, saving him time. His boss, Lt. Leif Myers, says the benefits are big, and they reach beyond Phoenix Police into the community they serve.
"It completely shows transparency of the investigation," Myers said. "You get to actually, in a 3D image, kind of walk through the actual scene. See the evidence markers. See where the bullet casings were. See where the collision impacts were. So, it's truly a transparent technology."
These maps are admissible in court, with the facilitation of a certified and trained officer, and the Phoenix Police Foundation paid for Smith to get that training.
"Now that he's a train the trainer for the FARO product, he's the only one certified in the state of Arizona to train," Myers said. "He can train the rest of our unit, he can train the lab, he can train other agencies. It is a tremendous benefit which is saving us thousands of dollars."
The FARO 3D scanner is used primarily in the Vehicular Crimes Unit at Phoenix Police, but other bureaus, like Homicide, use it to help with their investigations, too. Looking to the future, this laser scanner technology will likely be put to work in even more areas of the department — all in the name of modernizing the way police do their work.
Republished courtesy of Phoenix Police Department. Photo credit: PPD video.