The Interactive Crime Scene Recording System (ICSRS) uses commercially available computer software to convert photographs taken at crime scenes into interactive 360 degree digitised views of those scenes. The views can then be shown in court using a computer connected to a monitor or projection equipment.
ICSRS was developed by two Queensland Police Officers: Senior Sergeant Adrian Freeman and Sergeant Troy O’Malley. It has been used in Queensland State Courts since 1998. In more recent years the system has been adopted by the South Australian and New South Wales Police Services.
With this technology the court is effectively placed at the scene of the crime and can navigate around individual or multiple locations, with the ability to look at a location from any desired angle of view.
The interactive scene can also have embedded in it further aids to understanding of the case such as still photographs, video footage, plans or animation.
The technology renders superfluous the need to tender eg hundreds of still photographs. It enables the court to easily get a clear understanding of the layout of the scene and the relationship of evidence such as forensic evidence to the scene. It also greatly facilitates the giving of evidence by witnesses since they can refer to the scene image as they are giving their evidence.
After the scenes of crime officers have processed the scene a police photographer photographs the scene using a camera mounted on a tripod which has been adapted for taking the ICSRS photos. The photographer takes a photo, turns the camera 18 degrees and repeats the process until all of the photos for the 360 degree view have been taken.
Depending upon the resolution required in the images the photographer will use either a digital camera (currently either a Kodak 410 or a Sony Mavica) or a SLR camera (Nikon 35 mm).
If high resolution is needed (eg. for photos of blood splatters) the SLR is used. If only a general area photo is required a digital camera is used.
The photographer usually takes a number of sets of 360 degree photos, each set of photos taken from a different position referred to as a node. As an example the photographer may start by taking photos of a building from a node outside a building and then shift the camera to a node at the doorway into the building and then continue moving the nodes further into the building. When the ICSRS images are constructed each set of node images is connected. The user can then move from one node to another by activating a concealed “hot spot” in the image. This process results in the user of the system being able to effectively walk from outside to inside the building and then through the rooms in the building. At each node the user has the ability to choose the angle of view required and to zoom in and get a closer view of any area of interest in the image. For instance the user can view a building from across the road and if desired zoom in to get a much closer view of a window in that building.
In cases involving eyewitnesses the photographer will take photographs from the positions at which the witnesses were at the relevant time. Thus if a witness was seated on a balcony watching events occurring across the road the witness at trial will be able to refer to the ICSRS images taken from the position where they were seated and the court can see the view that the witness had at the time.
The photographs taken at the scene are downloaded by photographic personnel to Quick Time VR Authoring Studio computer software which is used to set parameters and stitch the scene together. This process can be completed in one day and produces what is referred to as the investigator’s copy.
Investigation Phase
The investigator’s copy is used as a briefing tool and to interview witnesses.
In major investigations there will usually be a large number of investigating officers involved. ICSRS provides an efficient method to brief those officers without the need for all of them to travel out to the crime scene. Also, the officers can use the investigator’s copy to ‘walk’ witnesses through a crime scene and refresh their memory of events.
The system is also a useful archiving tool. Some crimes go unsolved for a long period of time and a scene can change dramatically over even a relatively short period: foliage can change dramatically, buildings can be demolished. If a witness comes forward months, or even years, after a crime investigators can use ICSRS to take them through the crime scene as it looked at the time.
The system also enables investigators at any police station in Queensland to call up the crime scene instantly on the police computer network.
When the case is being prepared for presentation to court the prosecutor meets with the investigators and the photographic personnel to complete the product which will be shown to the court, the court copy.
At this stage, depending upon the nature of the case, maps, still photographs, video footage or animation can be added to the images. This extra material can then be accessed by using buttons on the border of the display screen or through “hot spots” incorporated in the image.
In a prosecution involving a complex scene or multiple locations the ICSRS photos taken at those locations can be connected to a plan so that the viewer can easily relate the ICSRS images to the plan. The user can click a point on the plan and activate the ICSRS view from that point (node). Once a node has been activated the user can then navigate through all the connected nodes, effectively walking about the location as I have previously described.
Photographs of eg fingerprints, tyre prints or footprints can be incorporated in the court copy so that the location where the prints were found can be easily related to the scene. Such photographs are not visible until the user activates them by clicking the mouse on the concealed “hot spot” centred at the point in the image where the prints were located.
If required the still photographs can be superimposed over the ICSRS image so that both can be seen at the same time. In a recent prosecution the offence occurred over fifteen years ago. The scene, which involved a public park and surrounding streets, had changed substantially since that time. Amongst other things a toilet block in the park had been demolished. Photographs taken at the time of the offence were digitised and incorporated in the ICSRS images taken in more recent times. Those photographs could be superimposed over the image so that the court could see, for example, where the toilet block had been in relation to the scene as it existed at the time of trial.
Essentially the system is very flexible and the nature of the extra material incorporated in the court copy, as well as the way it is incorporated, will vary from trial to trial. Ultimately the aim is to present what could otherwise be an overwhelming mass of information in an easily understandable format.
It is preferable at this production phase to liase with the defence and to seek some agreement on what is to be included in the court copy. If agreement is not possible elements which are perhaps later ruled inadmissible can be removed relatively easily.
This production phase uses two commercially available software products: Macromedia Flash, which is used for annotation, incorporating photos, video footage, plans, animation etc, and Live Stage, which is used as the final production tool to combine the various elements.
The court copy, recorded on a cd, is tendered as an exhibit at the trial and can be played on either Windows or Apple Mac computers.
During the trial the prosecutor has a lap top computer, with the cd loaded on it, at the bar table. The computer is connected to either projection equipment or directly to a monitor. Three courtrooms in Brisbane have been set up to fully utilise the system and further courts will be similarly set up in the near future.
In two of the courtrooms that have been specifically set up to use the system a projector (Panasonic PT-L797) has been installed in the ceiling of the courtroom with a large screen at the front. The projector is connected via cable to a computer point at the bar table as well as to a video player and a visualiser (for projecting images of documents). An infra red system for transmitting audio has also been set up so that, where sound recordings are difficult to hear, the court can listen to the recordings using headphones. In the other courtroom the computer and other equipment are directly connected to a set of monitors.
The prosecutor operates the system from the bar table using a remote control to switch between the computer, video and visualiser and a computer mouse to navigate through the ICSRS images.
As required witnesses can refer to the ICSRS images during the course of their evidence. This has the obvious advantage that there is no need to tender perhaps hundreds of photographs and everyone in the court can look at the image of the scene at the same time as the witness.
The system has proved to be a far more flexible tool than still photographs in assisting witnesses to give accurate evidence since the witnesses are not limited by a fixed view of the scene. As an example, a witness describing a moving scene can explain to the court what they saw by referring to an image that can move with their description. The system is also a useful tool in opening and closing the prosecution case, allowing the prosecutor to easily outline the evidence as it relates to the scene.
The system also allows annotations to be incorporated in the images. Thus an annotation can be incorporated at the bottom of the image indicating the position of the node.
The annotation facility is also useful where a large number of still photographs have been incorporated in the image. For example, a case may involve a large number of photographs of different areas where blood samples were taken by the scenes of crime officer, each identified by different sample numbers. Each of those still photographs can be incorporated in the image (accessible by clicking on the hot spot in the image) and can have an annotation identifying the sample number that applies to that particular photograph. Thus when the forensic biologist is giving evidence the court can be referred to the ICSRS image and the photograph of the blood from which a sample was taken.
When the jury retires to consider the verdict they are provided with a lap top computer loaded with the cd and instructions on how to operate the system. The system is very easy to use and in my experience no jury has required any extra assistance to use it.
The system has been favourably received by the Judiciary. It makes it far easier for the court to understand the evidence and substantially shortens the length of trials. It can be used in any courtroom where there are facilities to connect a monitor or projection equipment directly to a computer.