New GBI Camera Captures 3-D Crime Scene Images

ATLANTA,None — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has found a way to preserve a crime scene, forever.

The GBI gave Channel 2 Action News reporter Rebecca Lindstrom the first look at its new high-tech tool.

New GBI Camera Captures 3-D Crime Scene Images

"You can pretty much place yourself at the crime scene and see whatever the witnesses says they saw," GBI Special Agent David Norman told Lindstrom.

The GBI investigates nearly 300 homicides and officer-involved shootings a year. It plans to take the camera to each one of them.

"You can come out here and have that crime scene scanned and you can have it forever," said Forensic Computer Specialist Matthew Daniel as he demonstrated how it worked.

Instead of tape measures and stacks of photos, the GBI said the Leica Geosystems 3D laser scanner can scan a crime scene, capturing 50,000 measurement points per second, creating a 360 degree three-dimensional image. That image can help investigators review evidence and verify witness statements.

"I thought it was pretty neat that you could put somebody's height into the video and see what they see from their eyes," Forensic Computer Specialist Joel Cancilla said. "I can recall a case one time, where we actually took photos but the murder weapon was not spotted until afterwards. In a case like that, you can look at the scan and go back and see where the murder weapon was," added Norman.

The GBI also said jurors have started to expect all the high tech tools seen in TV crime shows, even if many of them are not real.

"They're not going to just sit there and listen to you talk on the stand. They want to see and visualize," said Norman.

The camera cost $175,000. Someday, the department would like to purchase another piece of equipment that would turn the image into a hologram they can take into court.

WSBTV