LAKEWOOD, Colo. — The Lakewood Police Department is the first police department in all of North America to have the newest tool in evidence collection. It's called Blindsite Scene.
It's a portable forensic camera used to scan crime scenes and collect DNA, latent fingerprints and bodily fluids, without the need for chemical enhancement.
Scripps News Denver's Shannon Ogden met the inventor, Dr. Alexander Smyth, of Leicester, England, at Lakewood police headquarters, where Dr. Smyth was assisting with training on the device.
"This is completely non-contact approach. So there's no fingerprint powers, no mess. You can search and capture with it," said Dr. Smyth. "With the current method, you have to first search the room, mark where traces are. Then you have to enhance them through chemical process, then you have to process them. This is one step."
Dr. Smyth said Blindsite is 10-times faster than traditional evidence collection, and because it's among the latest high-tech tools against crime, it comes with a hefty price tag.
How much, you ask? Each camera costs $40,000. The Lakewood Police Department has purchased only a single camera for now.
Training was held Wednesday, and crime scene techs will begin using it Thursday.
It is being used initially by the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority (CATPA) and the Metropolitan Auto Theft Task Force.
"CATPA is proud to support programs like the CATPA-Metropolitan Auto Theft Task Force, who strive to be on the cutting edge of investigative techniques," said CATPA Director Robert Force. “Investments in technologies like the Smytek device improve these investigations by reducing the time for evidence processing and success in evidence capture. These factors all increase the strength of the investigations and support our goal to make Colorado safer by enhancing enforcement and prosecution strategies to better address the complex crime of auto theft," Force said in a statement.