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August 2010

VF Pro Takes On Las Vegas Crime at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Crime Lab

Bringing New Agility to Investigations

The second most active police crime lab in the country - topped only by the FBI - The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) has more than 5,300 employees, eight Area Commands and a mission to protect the community through prevention, partnership and professional service. It's a mission that extends to the millions of visitors the city hosts each year.

To facilitate, the LVMPD regards "Effective use of innovation and technology" as a priority; an effective directive that has enabled its crime lab to solve cases almost entirely through forensics evidence, using the best forensic technology in the world to do so.

Since 2009, that has meant the inclusion of Salient Still's video forensics and imaging tool, VFPro. Criminalist Photo Supervisor David Phillips was given just one demonstration and knew that the ease, image quality and capabilities VFPro brought with it would be critical additions to his team's toolbox.

Focusing On Forensics To Beat Crime

Surveillance video, videotape, closed circuit TV systems, digital video cameras and cell phones have given the LVMPD an incredibly useful forensic tool set with which to work. Their team of criminologists and forensics analysts work closely with officers on the ground to carry on the raids, pursuits, arrests, and interrogations that otherwise advance investigations, creating an LVMPD force to be reckoned with.

Evidence Found: Getting the Real Story

With VFPro, LVMPD forensics analysts help detective find the truth within the accounts and evidence at hand, often it's the forensics technology that gets the real story that witnesses fail to tell.

A recent pawnshop crime scene proves the point. An alleged robbery victim, the pawnshop owner told investigators that a customer came in for a watch, grabbed it and bolted for the door. The owner, fearful, fired at the suspect who later died outside the doors.

Investigators turned to the owner's video surveillance system and VFPro to check out his claims. Using VFPro, analysts dissected the video frame by frame: one revealed the muzzle flash, the frame revealing a suspect shot prior to his exit from the store. Zooming in on these still frames, investigators saw a visibly locked door, which meant the pawnshop owner had not released the door as stated, and the suspect was shot inside the shop. Investigators later pulled frames that revealed the suspect to have pulled so hard on the door; he had broken the lock in attempt to leave, after he was shot.

Based on this video evidence, the owner was convicted of misreporting a crime.

"The good news was we had the ability to clean up the video with VFPro and export clean stills with enough detail to make a positive identification," said Supervisor Phillips.

More proof VFPro makes the difference

VFPro is the forensics system the LVMPD team relied on for a recent convenience store case as well. Using the system's outstanding de-multiplex capabilities, they were able to use multiple video feeds to review evidence - enhancing the video and producing clear stills. Still images so clear, in fact, they helped quickly identify the suspect, proving his crime so well the suspect confessed on seeing the image.

And even more recently, VFPro was key in uncovering the truth in a murder and a robbery. Several black and white video surveillance cameras were in use when a suspect shot and killed a clerk during a robbery. With VFPro, analysts were able to capture multiple digital camera streams, clean the videos, and edit them together into one uncompressed AVI file. The result was a chronological video timeline, which revealed the suspect's entrance, approach to the counter, the murder and his steps out the door. It was clear that this was an armed robbery gone badly.

Forensic Multimedia Analyst Erik Tufteland analyzes much of the video evidence the LVMPD receives. "We create massive amounts of images for our police officers. With VFPro we can quickly email stills to officers," said Tufteland, who cited VFPro's screen capture as his favorite feature.

"What you see on TV is not possible. Technology can't clarify details that were not recorded in the first place. The systems are designed to see, for example, a woman slip, but not the grape she slipped over," said Analyst Tufteland. "We often have to overcome the expectations of popular TV shows, and VFPro helps us do it."

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