Mapping crashes and collisions at record speed

Author:温迪·里昂（Wendy Lyons）

When your crime scene is situated in the middle of a busy intersection in one of metro Los Angeles’ most densely populated cities in the United States, you need to get what you need and get out.“It can get pretty dicey out there,”圣安娜警察局碰撞调查部门的调查员韦斯顿·哈德利（Weston Hadley）说。

直到最近，哈德利和他的调查人员一直在使用理想仪进行法医映射。“A theodolite can make very accurate measurements. The limitation is that it only is taking data points and measurements for items that you choose, and that process can be pretty time consuming,”he says.“我们关闭主要十字路口四个，有时五个小时200至400个数据点。”Like many public safety agencies, Santa Ana Police Department held onto the obsolete device because there was no money in the budget to purchase faster technology.

Today, the Santa Ana Police Department is mapping at record speeds thanks to a technology lease that made it possible to upgrade to the latest state-of-the-art reality capture solution. Their brand-newLeica RTC360laser scanner is capturing theentire场景 - 数十亿个高度准确的数据点 -少于30分钟。The new laser scanner also pre-registers the point cloud data in the field automatically, which makes it easy to use and saves even more time back in the office.

“It's such a significant increase in our efficiency,”Hadley says. And with fatal collisions occurring on a regular basis, efficiency is important.“It just doesn't quit here in Santa Ana,”Hadley says.“We’ve had our Leica RTC360 since the end of December and [as of June 2019] we have already mapped our 12^Thcollision scene.”

Hadley says the RTC360 was an obvious choice. After seeing it in action, it’s also become apparent that the fast, agile and precise 3D reality capture solution is paying off in more ways than one.“我们立即看到了价值in how it collects data and the speed,”Hadley says.“但是，节省成本和利益在很多方面都超出了这一点。”

Improves use of officer resources

RTC360释放了巡逻人员，以更及时地响应服务呼吁。“我们是一个繁忙的城市，当有什么事情发生时，尤其是在白天和傍晚时分，拉动五到六名军官阻止交通，这给我们提供的服务带来了巨大的压力。我们仍将接触到这些优先的电话，但是要付出的少于优先事项，这些巡逻人员将坐了五，六个小时，直到我们完成现场，”Hadley says.

使用RTC360映射an entire scene in less than 30 minutes, that strain on personnel has been alleviated.“ RTC360为社区提供了更好的服务，因为我们可以将资源比阻止道路更好地利用。”he says.

Opens roadways quicker for commuters

The RTC360 minimises the impact road closures have on the commuting public.“I remember a scene we had several years ago. It was a terrible crash at one of the busiest intersections, and we had it shut down all the way through rush hour. We had tens of thousands of people who couldn't get through the intersection, that were late for work, that didn't get their kids to school on time,”he says.“That simply won't happen anymore.”

Increases officer safety

The RTC360 increases officer safety by decreasing their time in harm’s way. According to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, of the50 officers killed2018年与交通相关的事件中14人被击中while outside their vehicles. It’s not unusual for impaired or distracted drivers to plow through active scenes.“I've had to run out of the street several times,” Hadley says.“值得庆幸的是，我们从未有过任何军官。我们的汽车打了。我们的建筑物受到了打击。我们有证据表明。因此，我们越快就能得到我们需要的东西，并从那条道路和通行权中走出来，越好。”

Reduces human oversight and errors

The RTC360 captures anything and everything in its line of sight at 2 million points per second. A theodolite can only take data points for objects the operator chooses. Even collecting an average of 200 to 400 data points, it was impossible to get everything.

“Sometimes, we get distracted or it's just such a big complicated scene that we can just overlook one piece of evidence,”Hadley says. He remembers one case where, after returning to the office, Hadley discovered the theodolite had malfunctioned.“这是一个有先验的遗传性致命DUI，所以这个家伙正在看谋杀罪。”he explains。“We had to go out two more times and re-setup right where I initially placed the device.”

第一次，他将真主党放置在收集所有数据的最有效的位置。“当我不得不回去尝试关闭车道时，这不是最有效的。真的很糟糕，”he says.“That was a real pain.”有了RTC360，Hadley现在可以在现场仅几分钟后走开，认为扫描仪以毫米精度捕获了所有东西。“而且我敢肯定，我不会回到碰撞场景的任何旅行。”he says.

提高陪审员的决策能力

The RTC360 and its companion scene reconstruction software empower jurors to make better informed decisions. Previously, evidence mapped by theodolite was presented to the court as two-dimensional illustrations. But by overlaying millions of data points with high dynamic range (HDR) photography, along with geotagged photos and notes, theRTC360 provides an immersive 360-degree, 3D experience。And the data is admissible as scientific evidence.

“现在，我们真的可以将某人带入现场，因为那天我们看到的是二维图纸永远无法在任何地方接近的方式。”Hadley says.“You can talk about two cars colliding at每小时40英里（64公里）。In concept, they really don't know what it looks like when a violent collision occurs—the crushed vehicles, the debris field—it can be overwhelming.”

When their laser scanned cases reach court, jurors will no longer have to draw on their imaginations. “I think that it'll have a bigger impact when they can see with their own eyes what we saw—the violence of what occurred and the energy and all of those things,” he says.

与私营企业保持竞争环境

私营企业的法医映射专家通常使用最先进的技术，尤其是对于备受瞩目的案例。哈德利认为，保持公共安全机构保持相同的专业水平很重要。“If we're going to get up in front of a jury during a deposition and talk about what wonderful experts we are and all the experience and training we have and we're using technology that is just way outdated, I think it undermines our initial message,”he says.

It can also undermine the ability to identify inaccuracies or mischaracterisations presented by private experts.“It could put us at a disadvantage if we're not aware of the current technology's limitations or nuances,”he says。“If we’re using current technology, at least gives us a starting point to say, ‘That is right’ or ‘That doesn't look right.’ Whereas if we don't have any experience in that technology, we basically can't say anything. Whatever they say is.”Documenting the scene with the RTC360使代理商处于映射技术的最前沿并坚持其在法庭上的信誉。

Closing the gap

多亏了他们的新RTC360，碰撞调查部门已缩小其技术差距。今天，圣安娜警察局现在处于激光扫描技术的前沿，并以创纪录的速度绘制。“ Leica RTC360使我们在许多方面都更加有效，”Hadley says.“I think if you really draw back and look at the proverbial forest, you just go, ‘Wow! Why haven't we been doing this for a long time?'”