Crime scene tool makes the difference

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) – Grand Junction Police have a tool to help investigate crime scenes.

Jordan Huslig is a digital forensic analyst with the Grand Junction Police Department.

He also performs crime scene processing, which includes 3D scanning of crime scenes for surveying, documentation, and crime scene reconstruction.

A practical tool that he uses when processing crime scenes is the FARO, a 3D scanner.

Huslig said: “The 3D scanner collects point data. So, for example, if we only have a standard room, we put the 3D scanner in the room and it starts collecting information. It tracks distances, it collects photos and stitches them together, creating a three-dimensional, virtualized environment of the crime scene.”

This tool saves time and can scan long distances. Sometimes a few blocks.

Huslig said: “From there we can use the 3D measurements to reconstruct the scene. And it helps us document the area efficiently, so you know that instead of dragging a tape measure from one wall to another, we can capture millions of data points with just one scan, which can take anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes. “

The FARO can use these millions of points to do things like blood spatter analysis and gunshot trajectory analysis.

Huslig said, “And because we have millions of data points, we can then create three-dimensional models from which we can provide illustrative evidence.” We can extrapolate trajectories to figure out where, you know, maybe a suspect fired, from what position he could have shot.”

Once the investigation of a crime scene is complete, the scans are stored digitally and analysis can then continue in a simpler manner.

Huslig said: “Quite a large scene, we could have multiple scanning positions. And so we need to use the 3D software to then register these positions together so that we can create a 3D environment. And from there it depends on what the research question is. So if it's just documentation, we need measurements. Then we start going through it and maybe creating a two-dimensional sketch from it. A sort of top-down view to give a sense of where we were, what we were looking for, by placing virtual evidence markers.”

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