SANTA ANA – A new 3D bullet-analyzing technology is used two places in the United States: on the TV show “CSI” and at the Orange County Crime Lab.
The lab is the first in the U.S. to put to work a new scanning system that catalogs more detailed markings and grooves than ever before.
“This isn’t ‘CSI,’” forensic scientist Thomas Matsudaira said.
It’s real life.
“You aren’t ever going to overlap images to find that they completely match,” Matsudaira added.
But the machine does create crisper, close-up images that can be rotated and shifted when compared.
“The high-resolution 3D marks on the bullets and cartridge cases are compared against each other and candidate hits are produced,” Orange County Crime Lab Director Bruce Houlihan said during a news conference Wednesday morning at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Matsudaira gave a demonstration of the new apparatus in the firearm forensics section of the crime lab.
After securing a fired 9mm bullet into a standing, vial-shaped holder, Matsudaira inserted it into the scanner. Images quickly appeared on a computer monitor with defined lines and marks that popped while the viewer was wearing movie-style 3D glasses.
The bullet database, which recently linked three Anaheim shootings from 2014 to the same gun, makes it easier to connect the bullets.
Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada said the technology could help connect crimes in different Orange County cities.
“Finding these links opens the doors to increased investigative leads, which are crucial to law enforcement,” Quezada said.
This is not the first time the local crime lab has upgraded to state-of-the-art tools. In 2008, the lab revamped its DNA analysis system to more quickly test thousands more samples.
The current ballistic analyzing system across the country is the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.
It is a nationwide database focused on examining cartridges. Though it is still used as the primary imaging technology in the Orange County Crime Lab, forensic scientists say the new 3D tool has surpassed it in some areas.
“The images are better and it’s a lot less time waiting for those images,” senior forensic scientist Tara Heye said.
It could take four hours to get results back with the current system, she said.
“Now it’s a lot faster. The images aren’t as dark and they’re clearer.”
The scanning instrument, obtained last year, cost $250,000.
“Since its first cold hit, our crime lab has obtained more O.C. bullet cartridge and bullet hits with numerous Orange County law enforcement agencies,” Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said. “We’re up to approximately 20 O.C. bullet database hits.”
Hundreds of bullets have been entered into the system, lab officials said. They will be running samples from past and future cases.
Lab director Houlihan said other agencies have asked for his feedback on the tool only Orange County uses.
“No one wants to be the first,” he joked.
Contact the writer: afausto@ocregister.com
