Jun.4, 2013

3D printers can make guns but it can also be used to help polices to fight crime. In the "Officer Blue" episode of CSI: New York aired on 12 November 2005, a ZPrinter 310 from ZCorporation helps police to print a 3D replica of a bullet, an important piece of evidence.

""A police officer was shot in Central Park. He dies right away. I am making a piece of 3D replica of the bullet which is still inside of his horse, Blue." says the policeman in the video.

As the 3D printing technology continues to advance, the magic of producing actual physical objects from computer models quickly and affordably is spreading into all the fields. In fact, 3D printing is now really be used to solve crimes. According to Nikkei news, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has now used 3D printer to recreate 3D models of crime scenes.

These 3D printed models helps prosecutor to better explain crime scenes, says the police department. Rather than showing the jury crime-scene photographs, prosecutor can now provide detailed 3D models with floor plans and arrangement of furniture.

A 3D printer was introduced to the Institute of Scientific Investigation of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in 2010. It was used to print out evidence for cases, such as skulls of the victim in murder cases.

At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 3D printer was used to produce an impression of a footprint.

Footprint models are currently created using crime-scene photographs and plaster of Paris casting. But developing a system that can scan footprints in 3D has several advantages, notes Forensic researcher Jason Linville, Ph.D., a member of CIA|JFR and the UAB Department of Justice Sciences.

"Once you have footprints as digital images, you can easily compare them with one another to generate a more objective match than you could by relying on the judgment of a human analyst," he says. "Then because you can print an impression that doesn't require handling, like a plaster cast, you can create multiple copies that are exactly the same."

And another huge advantage "is the ability to reverse the impression and actually print out what you think the shoe looked like," Linville says. "That is physical evidence that you could take to court."


 


Posted in 3D Printing Applications

 

 

Maybe you also like:


 


qwerty wrote at 6/24/2013 4:28:48 PM:

did anyone else think the layout of that house that was printed was a bit odd...i mean what's with the windows looking from the bedrooms on to the lounge, weird.

jh wrote at 6/7/2013 3:34:06 AM:

the criminal was wearing birkenstocks!

yru wrote at 6/5/2013 1:57:02 AM:

and he could not compare with the 3D model? too bad it's introduced in such naive way



Leave a comment:

Your Name:

 


Subscribe us to

3ders.org Feeds 3ders.org twitter 3ders.org facebook   

About 3Ders.org

3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.

News Archive