[ti:Scientists Developing Technology to Recreate Crime Scenes]
[ar:Jonathan Evans]
[al:Science in The News]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Police and prosecutors sometimes recreate crime scenes 
[00:04.86]in an effort to better understand complex cases. 
[00:09.22]They may set up a room to make it look like the room 
[00:13.18]where a murder took place. 
[00:14.98]To do this, they use photographs from the murder scene to set up tables, 
[00:21.60]chairs and other objects just where they were at the time of the murder.
[00:27.43]Now, scientists in Switzerland are developing virtual reality technologies 
[00:34.23]to recreate crimes scenes. 
[00:36.46]The scientists say these computer-made images 
[00:40.88]can be used for quality recreations of events.
[00:44.88]They say this kind of technology can help police, investigators, 
[00:50.37]judges and lawyers better visualize crime scenes. 
[00:55.52]They say it can even perform virtual autopsies ¨C 
[01:00.18]recreating examinations of human remains.
[01:03.95]The scientists work at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Zurich. 
[01:09.89]They developed special computer software to create this virtual reality technology. 
[01:16.10]The software program is called Forensic Holodeck. 
[01:20.56]It recreates crime scenes using hand-held three-dimensional, 3-D, scanners. 
[01:27.56]The scanners show the user an object's length, width and height. 
[01:33.63]The scientists also use the Oculus Rift headset, 
[01:39.19]equipment often used for video games.
[01:42.71]Investigators use the three-dimensional images to reconstruct the crime. 
[01:48.65]The images are based on reports from witnesses and camera recordings.
[01:54.67]Steffen Ross is a radiologist at the Institute of Forensic Medicine. 
[02:00.87]Mr. Ross explains how the technology works.
[02:04.40]"We scan the crime scene and we are also able to scan the dead body, 
[02:09.96]if there is a dead body involved, 
[02:11.61]and then we can put all the data together in the computer 
[02:15.46]and create a virtual crime scene, which is a 3D model of the crime scene."
[02:20.55]The software also rebuilds trajectories of bullets. 
[02:24.84]Red and yellow lines are used to show their movement through the air. 
[02:30.46]Mr. Ross says the technology gives the scientists a better idea 
[02:36.54]of the trajectories than a traditional, two-dimensional image.
[02:40.59]In addition to the virtual reality technology, 
[02:43.86]the institute also developed a robot named Virtobot. 
[02:48.88]Medical examiners can use Virtobot 
[02:52.05]to perform virtual autopsies in great detail.
[02:55.69]Robert Breitbeck is a scientist with the Institute of Forensic Medicine. 
[03:01.21]He says the system provides a 3-D model of the human body.
[03:06.05]He says scientists can make images of the injured skin in color 
[03:11.71]and true to the exact size. 
[03:14.69]This information can be stored, and later combined with three-dimensional data, 
[03:20.88]which police can provide. 
[03:22.87]From this information, he says, 
[03:25.49]the scientists can do 3D reconstructions, or recreate images, 
[03:31.24]from murder cases or traffic accidents.
[03:34.47]Several countries are already using both systems ¨C 
[03:38.97]the virtual reality technology and Virtobot.
[03:42.30]I'm Jonathan Evans.
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