National Forensic Science Week is September 15-21, and as part of our celebration of our top-notch Forensic Science Division here at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), we’re talking with Forensic Science Supervisor Amber Camacho about one of the most important pieces of technology in crime scene documentation: the FARO Focus laser scanner. FARO uses a laser to capture a million data points per second as it scans a crime scene so that forensic scientists can preserve a detailed 3-D image of every piece of evidence. A FARO scanner looks a little like a camera perched atop a tripod, but it does so much more than any camera could.

“Before we had FARO, it was miserable,” Camacho said. “It took hours to sketch a scene because you had to do it completely by hand, using a tape measure and drawing it all out on graph paper.” A major crime scene – which could be a homicide, or an aggravated battery where the person has life threatening injuries – can take an extremely long time to process. Forensic science specialists have to photograph evidence, dust for prints, take swabs to collect touch DNA, and might spend hours on their hands and knees collecting fibers from every square foot of the house. The sketch couldn’t be made until the end of that long process. “By that time, we might have been working the scene for 20 hours.” 

They used to have to measure every part of each room of the crime scene – length, width, height, doors, windows – and then measure every piece of evidence with numerous reference points. If there was a bloody knife on the table, for example, they’d have to not only note the dimensions of the knife itself, but its position relative to each edge of the table and then its position relative to fixed objects such as the walls. This would have to be done for every single piece of evidence – and in a major case there might be thousands of individual pieces of evidence.

Today, FARO cuts that documentation time dramatically, and the resulting images are spectacularly detailed. “Each FARO scan takes about six minutes for color, or three minutes for black and white,” Camacho said. FARO’s imaging uses infrared technology so they don’t need light to scan a scene, but then the image will only be in grayscale. If there’s light available, FARO can do a second scan for color. “The first time it spins, the infrared laser is capturing millions of points of data as it goes around. Then it does a second round where the camera captures a 360-degree color photo. Then it overlays the photos on the data points, creating a full 3-D color image.”

Though it can scan objects a thousand feet away, FARO only captures what it can see, so forensic science specialists have to pay attention to its line of sight and move it to give it the best angles, around or under objects. They’ll typically perform a scan every 20 feet or so. On one particularly complex traffic fatality scene they scanned more than a quarter mile of roadway at 20-foot intervals, as well as various side streets. It doesn’t matter how big or complex a scene is – they can scan a stadium or a hoarder’s house, and FARO will record every visible object. Its measurements are accurate to two millimeters. 

Other technology can be integrated with the FARO scanner and software system. “Now we have drone technology too,” Camacho said. “The overhead drone imagery and the FARO data can mesh together, adding information as seen from above.” This was used to document the recent plane crash in a Clearwater mobile home park. PCSO’s Technical Response Team, which works alongside SWAT to operate drones and robots, filmed with the drone while a forensic science specialist used the FARO scanner. 

A comprehensive 3-D image of a crime scene can be invaluable. A physical crime scene can’t be preserved forever, but the model can. That way, detectives who weren’t at the scene can reexamine every detail days, weeks, or even years later, looking for clues they might have missed. They can even use a virtual reality headset to put themselves directly in the scene. A jury debating the merits of a case can “fly” over a scene or “walk” through a room. It’s possible that one day a jury could don VR headsets and feel like they were really there as they view the evidence. 

Figures of people or vehicles can be added later to help explain how events unfolded. For example, if a witness claimed they could see a hit-and-run from their doorstep, adding a figure that measures their actual height to the place they had been standing, and putting the fleeing vehicle back on the scene in the 3-D image can help detectives figure out if they could actually have seen what they claimed to see from that vantage point.

The FARO scanner is just one of many tools and techniques our forensic science specialists use to collect evidence and document crime scenes. As we celebrate their skill and dedication, check out our social media for more information on what our forensic science specialists do.

You may have seen on our social media and in the news that we recently had to smash a window to rescue a little dog who had been locked in a sweltering vehicle. The vehicle was parked at the courthouse, and a concerned citizen alerted deputies there about the dog’s dire plight. The vehicle was locked, the engine was off, and the windows were up. The little dog was panting and in obvious distress. Deputies took quick emergency action to shatter a window away from where the dog was sitting, and immediately put the dog into an air-conditioned cruiser where they gratefully cooled off and lapped up water. The owners, who had gone inside the courthouse, admitted to knowingly leaving the dog in the vehicle and were charged with animal cruelty. The dog had been in the vehicle for up to 45 minutes, and it was estimated that the temperature inside the vehicle was 120 degrees.

Now is a good time to remind you to NEVER leave a child, pet, or a person with a physical or cognitive impairment in a hot car. The temperature inside a car will be much higher than the temperature outside. You may be comfortable walking across the parking lot, but the helpless one you left in the car may soon literally die of heatstroke. According to a study by the San Francisco State University Department of Geosciences, a vehicle parked with an outside air temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit can reach an internal temperature of 109 degrees in 10 minutes, 119 degrees in 20 minutes, 124 degrees in 30 minutes, and 133 degrees in 60 minutes. Leaving the windows cracked doesn’t have much effect on the internal temperature.

There is no such thing as a safe amount of time to leave kids, pets, or vulnerable adults in a hot vehicle. A child’s body temperature can rise five times faster than an adult’s. Heatstroke can start when the core body temperature reaches 104 degrees, and kids can die when their core body temperature is 107 degrees.

Dogs can’t control their body temperature by sweating as humans do, and rely on panting to help cool off. That makes them more vulnerable to heatstroke. Heavy fur coats don’t help, and breeds with flat faces like pugs and bulldogs are also at extra risk. No pets –not cats, dogs, birds, or even heat-loving animals like reptiles – are safe in a hot car.

An adult should never be left in a hot vehicle if they don’t have both the capacity to be aware that they are in distress, and the ability to let themselves out of the vehicle. No one with a physical or cognitive impairment should be left in a hot car. Even if your elderly relative has the capacity to self-rescue, don’t leave them in a hot car – even if they insist that they’ll be fine. The elderly are at greater risk because of medical issues, and because their bodies don’t regulate temperature as well. 

Some kids, pets, or disabled adults are deliberately left in hot cars because their caregivers don’t recognize the danger. Other times – strange as it may seem – people forget to take them out of the car. They may be distracted, or think that another caregiver has taken them. Always check the back of your vehicle, and find a way to remind yourself – you can leave a note in the front, or put your wallet in the back seat to make sure you look back there. Some deaths are caused by a child gaining access to a vehicle themselves and getting trapped unbeknownst to their parents. Make sure your vehicle is locked, and don’t let children have access to the keys.

The law protects citizens who take action to save the life of a person or pet suffering in a hot vehicle. If you see a child, animal, or vulnerable person left in a hot vehicle, call 911 immediately – this is an emergency situation. You can take a photo of the back of the vehicle to show the make, model, and tag, and a photo of the person or pet inside the vehicle. If possible, have someone go inside the building where the driver might be to let them know. If the child or pet is in immediate danger and help may not arrive in time, you are legally allowed to break the vehicle window to save a life. Florida State Statute 768.139 states that a person who enters a motor vehicle, by force or otherwise, for the purpose of removing a vulnerable person or domestic animal is immune from civil liability for damage to the motor vehicle, as long as they are acting in good faith, call 911, use no more force than necessary to enter the vehicle, and remain on scene until a first responder arrives.

In the last 25 years, nearly 1,000 children in the U.S. have died from heat after being left in, or becoming trapped in a parked vehicle. And according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, hundreds of pets perish every year after being left in hot cars. All of these deaths are entirely preventable. With record-breaking heat, be aware that leaving a child, pet, or vulnerable adult in a vehicle for even a few minutes can prove fatal.