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New Castle County Gets Crash and Crime Scene System

Delaware agency streamlines investigations with automated measurement/documentation.

NEW CASTLE, Del. -- New Castle County Police of Delaware sought to reduce the amount of time spent on administrative paperwork. The addition of fast and precise measurement and documentation of crash and crime scenes would help the department achieve that goal.

New Castle has chosen AutoDOCS, an automated crash and crime scene documentation system, for the department. The system provides accuracy and speed over manual and laser-based systems for the on-site investigation of automobile, truck, bus and rail accidents -- enabling the investigation of incidents in minutes versus hours. In addition, the system can be easily deployed for similar uses by crime scene investigators.

Using global positioning system technology, the system from OPTIMUS Corp. automatically generates a graphical representation of a scene that is accurate to less than two centimeters. The system makes more effective use of manpower resources because only one individual is required to operate the system. The investigator simply "points and clicks" important objects, and AutoDOCS automatically records the GPS measurements for each point, eliminating manual mistakes. Upon completion of the measurements, the processing software accurately draws the scene and generates a companion text-based accident report that can also be wirelessly e-mailed.
Miriam Jones is a former chief copy editor of Government Technology, Governing, Public CIO and Emergency Management magazines.