Mapping crashes and collisions at record speed

作者：Wendy Lyons

当您的犯罪现场位于洛杉矶大都会人口最密集的城市之一的一个繁忙十字路口中间时，您需要获得所需的东西。“它可能会变得很奇怪。”says investigator Weston Hadley, of the Santa Ana Police Department’s Collision Investigations Unit.

Until recently, Hadley and his fellow investigators had been using a theodolite for their forensic mapping. “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.“We were shutting down major intersections for four, five hours at times to take200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.

如今，由于技术租赁使可以升级到最新的最新现实捕获解决方案，因此圣塔安娜警察局正在以创纪录的速度绘制绘制。亚博ag真人规律他们的全新Leica RTC360激光扫描仪正在捕获entirescene—billions of highly accurate data points—in少于30分钟。新的激光扫描仪也登记了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,”哈德利说。由于定期发生致命的碰撞，效率很重要。“It just doesn't quit here in Santa Ana,”哈德利说。“We’ve had our Leica RTC360 since the end of December and [as of June 2019] we have already mapped our 12^thcollision scene.”

哈德利说，RTC360是一个明显的选择。在看到它的行动之后，很明显，快速，敏捷和精确的3D现实捕获解决方案正在以不止一种方式获得回报。亚博ag真人规律“我们immediately saw the value in how it collects data and the speed,”哈德利说。“But the cost savings and benefits go beyond that in so many ways.”

Improves use of officer resources

The RTC360 frees up patrol officers to respond to calls for service in a more timely manner.“We're a busy city, and when something goes down, especially in daylight and early evening hours, pulling five or six officers to block traffic puts an enormous strain on the resources we have available to handle calls for service. We're still going to get to those priority calls, but anything less than a priority is going to pend, and those patrol officers are going to sit for five, six hours until we finish the scene,”哈德利说。

使用RTC360映射不到30分钟的整个场景，对人员的压力得到了缓解。“ 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

RTC360最大程度地减少了道路关闭对通勤公众的影响。“我记得几年前我们有一个场景。在最繁忙的十字路口之一，这是一次可怕的撞车事故，我们一直在高峰时段关闭它。我们有成千上万的人无法通过十字路口，这些人迟到了，没有让孩子准时上学。”he says.“那根本不会发生。”

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 killedin traffic-related incidents in 2018,14 were struckwhile 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.“Thankfully, we've never had any officers hit. We've had our cars hit. We've had buildings hit. We've had evidence hit. So the quicker we can get what we need and get out of that road and that right-of-way, the better.”

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.

“有时候，我们会分心，或者只是一个如此大的复杂场面，我们可以忽略一条证据，”哈德利说。他记得一个案例，在回到办公室后，哈德利发现了理想仪官发生了故障。“It was an in-custody fatal DUI with a prior, so this guy's looking at a murder charge,”he explains。“We had to go out two more times and re-setup right where I initially placed the device.”

The first time, he placed the theodolite in the most efficient spot for gathering all the data.“It wasn't the most efficient when I had to go back and try to shut down lanes. It was really in a bad spot,”he says.“那是一个真正的痛苦。”With the RTC360, Hadley can now walk away—after just minutes on scene—confident that the scanner captured everything with millimetre accuracy.“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。数据是可接受的科学证据。

“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。”哈德利说。“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.”

当他们的激光扫描案件到达法院时，陪审员将不再需要利用他们的想象力。他说：“我认为，当他们可以用自己的眼睛看到我们所看到的东西 - 发生的事情，能量以及所有这些事情的暴力时，这将产生更大的影响。”

与私营企业保持竞争环境

Forensic mapping experts in the private industry typically use state-of-the-art technology, especially for high-profile cases. Hadley believes it’s important for public safety agencies to maintain the same level of professionalism.“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。“如果我们使用目前的技术,至少投入es 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and upholds their credibility in court.

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。“The Leica RTC360 makes us more efficient in so many ways,”哈德利说。“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?'”