The conference of the International Association for Forensic and Security Metrology took place in Forth Worth / Texas from 10 to 15 December 2018.
This year, the certified course on 3D scanning for crime scene surveying was also held for the first time. This course is to be evolved in the future as a kind of standard, which everyone should attend who wants to work in the field of crime scene surveying. This includes police officers, civilian specialists from the authorities and private investigators.
At the beginning of the conference week, a crime scene scenario was recreated at the Fort Worth Police Academy. A crime scene with the use of firearms was simulated. It was documented and measured in different groups with different measurement devices. In addition to the spatial documentation, it was also possible to go through the analysis of the firing path vy using laser scanners.
In the later course of the conference, these results were evaluated and presented. Beside the scanners of the well-known manufacturers, the handheld scanners of DotProduct and data of a UAV were used, too.
In the context of the forensics conference, different participants showed various crime scenes which were investigated with laser scanners. This included shooting path analyses and the examination of witness statements as well as the preparation of crime scene sketches. Laserscanning Europe also contributed to this topic. We showed how to create fast crime scene sketches from different measurement data sources using PointCab software.
In addition, various current scientific research studies were presented. These included studies on the reliability of the detection of trajectory vectors from entrance openings as well as the automated determination of the sexual characteristic from scan data of skulls.
Triangulation scanner
Scanning a police badge
The photo above shows a triangulation scanner of a university research project; the scanner is very easy to use and consists of very low-cost hardware components.
