CSI The Hague

Digitize the crime scene: fiction becomes reality

You can only investigate a crime scene once. If you forget to collect the traces, it will be gone forever. But investigating a crime scene is restricted by our senses. Evidence we cannot see, smell or feel is difficult or impossible to collect. Wouldnt it be nice if we could preserve the crime scene digitally? It seems science fiction, but it is almost reality.
Crime scene investigation is on the eve of a technological revolution. To examine the possibilities, a consortium has been established in The Hague, consisting of a unique combination of the Netherlands Forensic Institute, a Dutch University, an Academic Hospital, high-tech companies and knowledge institutes. Within the project CSI The Hague, the best of forensic and technological companies in the Netherlands are combining and developing dierent technologies to digitize and visualize the crime scene. In the near future, we will be able to feel, smell, hear, taste and observe in virtual reality all the evidence that was present at a crime scene. This freezing of the crime scene provides great opportunities for reconstruction and testing hypotheses or witness statements. But it will also be very useful for education, for training forensic researchers or for experimenting with new methods and techniques. CSI The Hague will stimulate innovation into forensic investigation and help to solve crimes. The project is therefore of great interest to society.

Goals
CSI The Hague combines existing technologies from outside the forensic eld and makes them suitable for use in forensic investigation. The project has the following objectives: To digitize the crime scene: for example, by using a hand held scanner, spectral imaging and thermal imaging, the crime scene can be saved digitally. If we are able to preserve the crime scene digitally, we will be able to rank the most likely hypotheses and identify the suspect more quickly. l To virtualize the crime scene: all the digital information will be available in a virtual environment, allowing us to experience an objective reconstruction. Serious gaming techniques, a head-mounted device and augmented reality applications are used. The virtualized crime scene can be used for research, but can also create situational awareness for judges or the Public Prosecution Service. l To aid education and training: to secure as much evidence as possible in a short amount of time, the protocol and techniques of investigating the crime scene are very impor tant. But training people in these aspects is dicult. In the near future, professionals can be educated and trained in a virtual reality environment, based on realistic cases. The working methods on a crime scene and the use application of new technologies can be studied in virtual and physical surroundings that simulate a crime scene. In this way, new methods and best practices can be deve loped, taught and trained with the newest insights from the eld of gaming. These serious gaming techniques will optimize and accelerate the investigation process.
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Smart combination of techniques

In CSI The Hague, existing and new technologies from outside the forensic eld are combined. The partners in the consortium will work with open standards, so that all technologies can be made suitable for use within the forensic eld. The following elds of expertise are involved: l Sensor and measurement l Behavior analysis (serious gaming) l Virtual reconstruction l Data exchange l Crime scene simulation l Serious gaming l Augmented reality l Bayesian rule l Causality l Validation l Architecture l System integration l Human factors

Facts & figures

The project has a three-year duration. The total costs of the project amount to almost 5 million euros. The consortium, the Ministry of Economic Aairs and the city of The Hague are nancing the project. www.csithehague.com Netherlands Forensic Institute, The Hague, the Netherlands For more information, please contact Andro Vos (project manager, NFI, a.vos@n.minjus.nl) or Hans Arnold (Innovation Manager, CSI The Hague Project, h.arnold@tignl.com.).

Forensic and technological expertise united

The project CSI The Hague is a project under the guidance of the Netherlands Forensic Institute, an agency of the Ministry of Justice. Within the consortium, this institute cooperates with SMEs, E-Semble, Noldus, Chess, Eagle Vision, Forensic Technical Solutions, Thales Thomson, Philips, Cap Gemini, TNO Defence, Security & Safety, and with the following institutes: the Amsterdam Medical Center, The University of The Hague, and the Technical University of Delft.

The consortium
Netherlands Forensic Institute, TNO, Philips, E-Semble, Noldus Information Technology, Chess Embedded Technology, Thales Nederland, Eagle Vision, Forensic Technical Solutions, Amsterdam Medical Center, Capgemini, The Hague University, Delft University of Technology.