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Kentucky
State Police Go Digital To Help Solve Crime
Video
taken from a crime scene can be a powerful tool for police investigators.
But sometimes, what's captured on tape needs a little fine tuning. Now
the Kentucky State Police (KSP) have the ability to dissect every detail
of crime scene video with the introduction of a new video analysis tool.
The system, developed by the same company major film studios use for
movie editing, Avid Techology, allows KSP to transfer the video tape
to a computer and analyze the tape digitally.
Forensic Artist and Video Analyst Teresa Redmon of the Kentucky State
Police studies video from an attempted burglary. Her training includes
classes with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Veridan Technologies.
"We're averaging one to two cases a day," said John Kibler,
Forensic Video Analyst. "Every tape and every case is different,"
he added. "One of the great things about this system is its versatility.
We can take a tape which is too dark and lighten the image to reveal
evidence which could not be seen before."
The software also
allows investigators to zoom in on a specific area of the tape, stabilize
shaky video and "demultiplex" security video. Quite often
security tapes record images from different cameras on a single tape.
Demultiplexing allows the investigator to view each camera separately.
Of equal importance to the software is the Forensic Video Analyst.
The Kentucky State Police currently has two analysts dealing with video.
Through their training, with the FBI and other government and civilian
agencies, they provide comparative analysis of known suspects, vehicles
and property to that found on video. "It's a lot like fingerprint
comparison," said Teresa Redmon, Forensic Artist and Video Analyst.
"We look for points on the video to compare to any suspect or property
recovered from a suspect."
The tool has also
been adopted by the Louisville Division of Police (Louisville-Jefferson
County Metro Government's Police Department), and is proving to be very
helpful in either targeting a suspect, ruling out a suspect or helping
gain a better picture of what really happened.
Additional
information for this story gathered by KSP's John Kibler
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