The recent arrest in Estepona for seven robberies at gas stations, where the perpetrator used a car to ram machines and steal the takings, is a clear example of serial crime with evident physical footprint. Each scene contains crucial data: tire marks, approach and escape trajectories, specific structural damage to the machines, and possible vehicle remnants. Traditional photographic documentation can lose the spatial and metric relationship between these elements, a gap that 3D technologies can definitively fill for expert analysis.
Metric documentation with laser scanner and photogrammetry 🔍
The scene of a vehicular impact requires capturing with millimeter precision the position of fragments, the geometry of dents, and marks on the pavement. A 3D laser scanner captures the complete point cloud of the environment in minutes, providing an exact metric model to calculate impact angles, estimated speeds, and force vectors. Complementarily, photogrammetry of the damage to the vending machine allows generating high-resolution textures and detailed 3D models of deformations, which are key to linking a specific vehicle to the events. By unifying all scans from the seven locations on the same 3D platform, the operational pattern can be visualized and demonstrated irrefutably.
From the 3D model to expert evidence and prevention ⚖️
The final value of this 3D reconstruction goes beyond mere visualization. In court, it allows the jury to virtually walk through the scene and intuitively understand the sequence. For investigators, superimposing models from all robberies helps refine the offender's profile, identifying blind spots or selection methods. At the prevention level, these models can be used to simulate attacks and design more effective physical deterrents at gas stations, transforming reactive forensic analysis into a proactive security tool.
How can forensic 3D reconstruction be used to determine the speed and trajectory of the ram vehicle from structural damage and marks at the crime scene?
(P.S.: In scene analysis, every scale witness is an anonymous little hero.)