GREAT FALLS — Law enforcement in Cascade County will be taking a technological step forward by getting a Crime Scene Laser Scanner and Crime Scene Processing Equipment, thanks to congressional funding secured by U.S. Rep. Troy Downing.
The 3D scanner represents a significant advancement for local police work. Det. Sgt. Joe Dusatko of the Great Falls Police Department explained how the technology works.
Tim McGonigal reports on the new technology - watch the video:
"So it's a 3D scanner. It takes millions of laser point scans of a scene in a couple of minutes," Dusatko said. "Helps us to permanently, digitally record and document that scene so we can go back and analyze that later if we need to."
The scanner represents one of several community funding requests around the state that Downing's office analyzed and approved for inclusion into the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. On Thursday, the bill passed the U.S. House and now heads to the Senate.
"What we look at in my office is, first of all, if I was a taxpayer, would I be happy or upset if this was being paid," Downing said. "And most people understand that things like law enforcement, water infrastructure, fire support are things that are important to all Montanans. And so we feel pretty good about funding these types of projects."
Efficiency and community impact
The new scanner will be a time saver for officers, and in turn, it will make navigation around crime scenes more convenient for the community.
"Having a scanner like this really reduces some of that processing time," Dusatko said. "It just can make hours into minutes, basically. As far as the time that maybe we might have to take measurements and as far as collect evidence and things like that. So that's really going to help us to be able to open up roads quicker, open up scenes quicker so it disrupts the community use a little bit less."
The scanner will be shared with the Cascade County Sheriff's Office and ultimately will help law enforcement agencies in neighboring jurisdictions.
"No law enforcement organization ever has enough manpower," Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said. "We do help, especially kind of the north central Montana corridor, if they have a major case, a major incident, a homicide, some big case. Usually it's the Great Falls Police Department, Cascade County Sheriff's Office, going to those outlying areas and assisting them with their investigations."
Downing said the request made sense when Slaughter reached out about the need.
"When Sheriff Slaughter reached out about a need for this, it just made sense to help them," Downing said. "This is a place where we can help law enforcement protect the cities of Cascade County."
Maximizing officer efficiency
The $128,696 scanner won't solve the need for more officers, but it could maximize the efforts of those officers in place.
"The grant that we're getting this program really does help us become much more efficient, process things quicker, provide detailed investigations that we want to do," Capt. Brian Black of the Great Falls Police Department said. "That's the level of professionalism that we hold ourselves to."
Downing said better equipment leads to better police work.
"If you have better equipped law enforcement, the theory is that they'll be better at doing their job because they have the tools that they need," Downing said. "They can be more efficient."
Legal benefits
Not only will it be beneficial to officers, it can also be a boost for the legal process.
"In today's world, with what I call kind of the CSI effect, people watch TV, they kind of have this expectation that it looks like it does on TV," Slaughter said. "This scanner actually gives juries that kind of visual of the crime scene. And I think also too, it's a more accurate representation than your two dimensional videos and pictures that you see in crime scenes."
Other counties getting law enforcement money from the community funding include Toole and Lewis and Clark.
