<title>CAD programs: a tool for crime scene processing and reconstruction</title>

Abstract

Computer aided drafting (CAD) programs have great potential for helping the forensic scientist. One of their most direct and useful applications is crime scene documentation, as an aid in rendering neat, unambiguous line drawings of crime scenes. Once the data has been entered, it can easily be displayed, printed, or plotted in a variety of formats. Final renditions from this initial data entry can take multiple forms and can have multiple uses. As a demonstrative aid, a CAD program can produce two dimensional (2-D) drawings of the scene from one's notes to scale. These 2-D renditions are court display quality and help to make the forensic scientists's testimony easily understood. Another use for CAD is as an analytical tool for scene reconstruction. More than just a drawing aid, CAD can generate useful information from the data input. It can help reconstruct bullet paths or locations of furniture in a room when it is critical to the reconstruction. Data entry at the scene, on a notebook computer, can assist in framing and answering questions so that the forensic scientist can test hypotheses while actively documenting the scene. Further, three dimensional (3-D) renditions of items can be viewed from many 'locations' by using the program to rotate the object and the observers' viewpoint.