CSI Goes High Tech At Joliet Police Department

JOLIET, IL - The city of Joliet and Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow have teamed up to fund a high-tech gadget for the police department's CSI division. Each entity contributed $43,089 in forfeiture assets that were seized from criminals to pay for the new FARO 3D laser scanner. The equipment will be used process crime scenes and perform crash reconstructions. Glasgow and Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton addressed the Joliet City Council at last week's meeting, stressing how the nearly $86,200 expense includes no use of public funds.

"This is an easy vote for you guys because it's no tax dollars," Glasgow told Joliet's City Council. "We're both putting up forfeiture money to make this purchase."

Glasgow predicted the new FARO S350 scanner will be a tremendous asset for Joliet's police investigators as well as prosecutors in his office. The CSI Laser System is made by FARO Technologies, located in Lake Mary, Florida. (For more information on this and other Joliet Patch neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive free daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Watch: CSI Goes High Tech At Joliet Police Department

The new CSI technology is supposed to save the city of Joliet thousands of dollars over the long haul by reducing overtime expenses within the police department.

"The FARO 3D laser technology can perform in under two hours what now takes evidence technicians and traffic reconstructions six-plus hours to perform," interim city manager Marty Shanahan wrote the City Council. "FARO is the only software available that can do blood spatter analysis, suspect height determination and shooting trajectory all within the scanning software program."

Glasgow mentioned he saw a demonstration of the FARO 3D laser scanner during a recent criminal investigation. "It was incredible," Glasgow told Joliet's city officials. "It's a three-dimension image that a jury will be able to (view) for the first time."

Jurors, Glasgow added, will now "see what the police officers saw when they walked into the room."

Related Joliet Police Department crime stories:

• Joliet Police Have Person Of Interest In Great Falls Drive Triple Murder
• Gunfire On Wallace Leaves Joliet Man Wounded
• Man Fatally Shot On The Hill

Images via Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak