Photography remains perspective’s backbone from crime scene to courtroom. As it continues to evolve we gain perspectives which only bolster the “fair and accurate” courtroom standard.
One of the most recent steps in crime scene photography’s development is integration of spherical (360-degree) imaging as data, visual technology and forensics combine for benefits cops are still discovering.
Technological demand
Earliest crime scene images were singular and dramatic, often prejudicial by today’s standards. As photography progressed, so did accepted crime scene processing standards. As a result, new perspectives became possible and over time, expected. Technology pushed evolutionary, even revolutionary developments to the point that today pretty much everyone has a cellphone camera capable of spherical photography.
Technology develops according to demand. It becomes less complicated, then economical and eventually ordinary. Social media accelerated demand for visuals. Technology continues to feed the appetite of a generation whose hands we pushed devices into at a very young age. That demand overlaps into the courtrooms where juries and judges, increasingly comprised of technology generations, expect the latest perspectives.
“Today’s generation was pretty much born and raised with all the new technology,” says Former New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Investigator John Dobies, who used 360-degree imagery to successfully investigate, indict and convict defendants in cases of hunter-related shootings. “They don’t want to look at two-dimensional images in a stack on a table. They want to see the technology. It’s moveable, it’s interactive, the prosecutor can articulate what’s on the screen. If a judge or juror has questions, we can rotate the sphere and explain. You can’t argue with it. The image is what the image is.”
Yesteryear accelerator
Spherical photographs have their roots in 1904 when the first cylindrical camera was patented. But it wasn’t until about 15 years ago when shooting cylindrical panoramas of crime scenes became a thing. With today’s ubiquitous 360-degree spherical cameras, photographing an entire crime scene, literally top to bottom and side to side, now takes minutes instead of hours.
The last homicide scene I worked was covered in blood with the suspect’s footprints in it. Spherical photography was the perfect medium to capture the scene. We photographed all the evidence with just a couple of shots. Capturing everything so quickly enabled us to share the scene with command and investigators outside the perimeter and prevent the scene from being trampled by non-essential personnel. Instead of spending a lot of time reviewing unsteady hand-held video, they viewed and manipulated perspectives to understand the scope of the scene and zoom in on details. That quick understanding provided foundation for a search warrant and expedited the investigation.
Voice of the victim
One of the biggest benefits of spherical photography is the ability to capture victim and witness perspectives and put the viewer right in the middle of the scene. Providing the 360-degree view of a victim or witness is an effective way to communicate surroundings and specific points-of-view. For the unfortunate victim of a homicide, bringing a case that includes their reality of a scene to the courtroom gives them a voice they otherwise might not have. In cases that take months or even years to reach trial, 360-degree photographs can prompt recall either in preparation for court or during testimony.
We train crime scene investigators to photograph a scene from its outside edges inward, say the four corners of a room to the center. Spherical photography’s typically most effective perspective shoots a scene from the middle, outward.
Spherical photography is also a convincer. Defense attorneys rarely get to walk a crime scene in its purest form. A 360-degree image is the most effective way to take them there and conceivably determine the best course of action for their client to take—perhaps plead guilty.
You’ve got back-up
Dobies feels spherical imaging is an insurance policy of sorts for crime scene personnel. “A crime scene photographer is only as good as what they recognize as evidence,” opines Dobies. “Spherical photography makes sure all evidence is documented. The photographer has to go on past experience and training. They might look at something and think it isn’t relevant. Maybe it is relevant. With DSLR photography alone, they would have missed it. With the integration of spherical photography, you can be confident you captured everything—even things that didn’t immediately appear relevant to the case.”
The confidence of capturing a scene in its entirety serves the overworked, rushed crime scene tech who naturally seeks shortcuts. In supervising a forensic unit for eight years, I discovered many crime scene investigators, under pressure, resort to two things potentially detrimental to an investigation. They throw their camera into auto mode, losing control over image quality, and don’t use a tripod for detail work.
A stitch in time
Every agency faces getting the job done faster with fewer resources, including time. Time equates to personnel costs. It’s critical, however, personnel take their time and do their jobs properly. If that means hours instead of minutes, then crime scene techs need to be given the time to document and collect evidence properly. Spherical photography takes such complete images, it doesn’t open officers up as easily to questioning their traditional DSLR photography. It’s so easy and effective, it saves time.
Spherical photography, however, is not a replacement for traditional DSLR imagery. “DSLR photography is still the standard to capture details—pertinent conditions or items of evidence at a scene,” Dobies says. “Spherical photography captures the overall—everything. The spherical image becomes the container for all other images and digital evidence. Where DSLR images provide detail, spherical photographs give context and perspective.”
Context is paramount in what spherical photography offers as it increasingly appears in court cases. In presentations in front of juries and judges, 360-degree imagery offers a depth the human eye already understands—still photography—and a new perspective.
About the Author
Hank Kula is a member of the L-Tron Training and Education Team and works as Law Enforcement Support. He is a retired police sergeant with 26 years in law enforcement. A certified crime scene investigator, crash reconstructionist, and former journalist, Kula works as a police instructor with recruits, veteran officers and supervisors. His instructional specialties are in crime scene management and investigation, photography, communications and public information.
Phone: 800-830-9523 x115
Email: [email protected]
www.L-Tron.com/OSCR360
Hank Kula | Law Enforcement Support
Sgt. Hank Kula (ret.) is a member of the L-Tron Training and Education Team and works as Law Enforcement Support. He is a retired police sergeant with 26 years in law enforcement. A certified crime scene investigator, crash reconstructionist, and former journalist, Hank works as a police instructor with recruits, veteran officers, and supervisors. His instructional specialties are in crime scene management and investigation, photography, communications and public information.
