Evolving the Forensic Mission – From Manual Methods to 3D Innovation

Charles S. DeFrance has been involved in crime scene investigation for nearly 3 decades and in shooting reconstruction from the first Bullet Trajectory Reconstruction class taught by the FBI Laboratory in 1996. DeFrance has gained extensive experience as a firearms-toolmarks examiner in the FBI Laboratory and as a member of the FBI Evidence Response Team (ERT), responding to a wide range of complex crime scenes to include 10 mass shootings. DeFrance will discuss the evolution of techniques and tools that have taken shooting reconstruction from hardware store wooden dowel rods to the current use of advanced 3-dimensional documentation to create full virtual models of a crime scene. He will use examples from early hand measurement of shooting scenes to his experience working mass shootings such as the Aurora Theater, Boulder Kings Soopers, and Colorado Springs Club Q mass shootings to illustrate how those advancements are being used to help investigators, prosecutors, and juries understand the details and nuances of a shooting scene. Through these case studies, DeFrance will illustrate how technology, adaptation, and forensic expertise are redefining crime scene reconstruction in the modern era.

Looking to the future, DeFrance will discuss ongoing advancements in standards development at the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC) where crime scene investigation, crime scene reconstruction, shooting reconstruction, and forensic metrology are all being strengthened by national standards. DeFrance will also discuss areas where he foresees the field will go in the future and areas that need additional research and innovation.