New Technologies In Crime Investigation

Abstract

The Criminal Investigation have as one of the main important goals to preserve everything at the scene in the most pristine condition as possible, and the technologies have an important paper in this topic, they can help making all the procedure of collecting evidences faster and without direct Human intervention, avoiding mistakes and contamination at the crime scene. Example of this technologies are Photography, Drones, Digital Scanners, 3-D computer generated images, they already exist and in the future they will see their importance recognized when it will be possible to work in real time between the Experts/Investigators of Crime Scene and the Laboratory of Scientific Police making an exact crime reconstruction in way to improve the results of the investigation.

Keywords: Criminal Investigation, Crime Reconstruction, Technologies, Real Time Investigation, Future.

New Technologies in Crime Investigation

Criminal Investigation is the process of collecting crime-related information to reach certain goals (Steven G. Brandl, 2007), the solution of the crime, provide evidence to support a conviction in a court and provide a level of service that satisfies the victims. Yon the goals, the other components of the definition are the process and the crime related information, the process is related with those who are responsible for the investigation, police officers, detectives and investigators, according with the chain of custody, in order to complete the different stages of the investigation, searching for and interviewing victims and witness and writing reports (Greenwood et al., 1977), about the crime related information we can define as the criminal evidence, the criminal evidence is the basis substance of criminal investigation without evidences there is no investigation, the criminal evidence is the basis and also one the major problem, here the criminal investigation face the problem of the relevance of information collected and the time to collect and other circumstances inherent to crime scene (multi scenario). In order to a better crime investigation with less problems, in other words more trustable, with less limitations and fast the new technologies appear with a preponderant importance in order to improve the results of crime investigation, and in this paper I will present and explain some of the most important technologies already used like photography and digital scanning and others just used in some countries like the 3-D Scanning and Drones, I will also try perspective of what the future can bring for the criminal investigation process.

The Future of Criminal Investigation

There is a need for new methods and strategies of detection, investigation and prosecution of old and new forms of crime. There is a need for innovation, research and development in science and technology that could be used for more effective investigation and prosecution. We should also research practical investigation and evidence gathering to find mistakes and to find the ways for more effective and efficient work of the police and prosecution. Efficiency can mean better clearance rates, more convicted offenders and fewer miscarriages of justice ( Darko Maver, 2011) with this quote is possible to understand what it is necessary to do/change in Policing and Criminal Investigation, these are the challenges for the future.

The future of Policing

We live in the Era of Internet and technology, according with some data in average we spend around 10h per day using internet, our mobile phones or smartphones are almost 24h turned on the streets are covered by CCTV systems so, we are completely under control, easily the Police can trace us if there is some suspect facts about or they can just use all this technologies in way to prevent the crime, talking about prevention to provide security some countries like USA or China already use Drones, they can assure the surveillance of cities without the population notice them presence, we already loose our privacy in name of security but Drones are one step forward of everything that was experienced till now, and the control of this technologies should be given to the Police, not the Army or the Government.

The concept of Police officer created by Sir Robert Peel it will finish in some years, the population grew up too fast in last years and it is impossible to have one police per person, and here the technology working on the service of the Police it will help on prevention and investigation of the crime.

As curiosity the future is not that far, and in these present days that I´m writing this paper, drones are being used in Brazil during some Football Cup in order to control the crowd and prevent crime, they are able to tape and to trace cars and people collecting evidences for a posterior crime reconstruction.

Drones – UAV

The UAV is an acronym for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which is an aircraft with no pilot on board. UAVs can be remote controlled aircraft (e.g. flown by a pilot at a ground control station) or can fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans or more complex dynamic automation systems. UAV remote sensing functions include electromagnetic sensors, gamma ray sensors, biological sensors, and chemical sensors. A UAV's electromagnetic sensors typically include visual spectrum, infrared, or near infrared cameras as well as radar systems. Other electromagnetic wave detectors such as microwave and ultraviolet spectrum sensors may also be used, but are uncommon. Biological sensors are sensors capable of detecting the airborne presence of various microorganisms and other biological factors. Chemical sensors use laser spectroscopy to analyze the concentrations of each element in the air.

Commercial aerial surveillance

Aerial surveillance of large areas is made possible with low cost UAV systems. Surveillance applications include: livestock monitoring, wildfire mapping, pipeline security, home security, road patrol and anti-piracy. The trend for use of UAV technology in commercial aerial surveillance is expanding rapidly with increased development of automated object detection approaches.

Crime Scene Photography

Crime scene photography differs from the other variations of photography because the crime scene photographers usually have a very specific purpose to capturing each