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Kennedy Technology Shines Light on Criminal Investigations
by Linda Herridge, Staff Writer
Spaceport News
John F. Kennedy Space Center - America's Gateway to the Universe
May 16, 2008
Volume 48, No. 9, Page 3 article
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A technology developed at Kennedy Space Center for the space shuttle recently was used by the U.S. Navy during a criminal investigation in the Middle East. NASA's Laser Scaling Device originally was developed to help technicians assess the damage to the space shuttle external tank after a hailstorm.
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According to Special Agent Thomas Brady, a regional forensic consultant with the southeast field office of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the Laser Scaling Device was used in forensic scene reconstruction efforts during the 2006 investigation of civilian deaths in Haditha, Iraq.
Brady said the device is used to measure bloodstains, bullet defects and other items of forensic interest in environments where the use of a scale is not practical. It was incorporated into a tactical crime scene kit used for incident scenes in high risk areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We use the device in training and in the field," Brady said. NCIS introduces special agents to the use of the device during high risk operations training programs conducted at the academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga. The course teaches potential users how to employ the scaling device in scene documentation and forensic reconstruction efforts.
The Laser Scaling Device attaches to a camera and uses two lasers that project a set of evenly spaced spots in the field of view. Developed by Dr. Robert Youngquist, Charles Stevenson, Jorge Rivera, William Haskell and Robert Cox at Kennedy, the hardware originally provided a scaling guide to one-sixteenth of an inch at 80 feet, to comply with shuttle requirements.
The accompanying software, developed by Dr. John Lane, Kim Ballard and Dr. Youngquist, converts the pattern in the photo image and computes the distance scale for the whole image, saving valuable time in establishing and documenting measurements.
"This device is one of many that the Applied Physics Lab has developed for the Space Shuttle Program," Youngquist said. "The unique aspect here is really due to the efforts of the Technology Transfer Office in recognizing its pertinence to crime scene analysis."
NASA granted a license to BAE Systems Products Group, formerly called Armor Forensics, in Jacksonville, to develop and commercialize the technology for law enforcement.
Brady said the device has proven invaluable in hostile areas where conditions demand expedited scene documentation and where it is not possible to use traditional measuring devices. The software by itself also was used to import photographs from a stateside shooting scene to determine specific measurements of several critical bloodstains.
"NCIS strives for the latest technology for our field agents," Brady said. "The very fact that a device with its origins in the space program is now being employed to assist in forensic investigations is indeed exciting."
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