June 25, 2005

Illinois State Police solution eases the pain of road closures due to traffic crashes.

Westbank, BC – The Illinois State Police has enabled the state's collision and crime scene Reconstructionists to conduct smoother and more fluid investigations by adding additional equipment and training for their professional forensic mappers.

Many areas are involved, but incident reports in the metropolitan Chicago area show that shorter road closures will impact those tremendous traffic jams, which in turn cause more crashes. With the public at greater risk with long road closers, the State Police have introduced new technology to expedite investigations on expressways. Graphically interfaced evidence collection and faster total stations create confidence in getting the investigation completed not only faster, but as a fair and accurate representation of the scene.

After careful analysis of four or five different solutions, Trooper Jeff Darko, State Police Safety Education Unit Supervisor and Illinois Department of Transportation Liaison, determined the need for a solution that would also assist them in reconstructing 3D maps and animations for court purposes.

Darko states " the Division of Operations and the Division of Forensics, now have the equipment and training to conduct better investigations and help reduce the time at the scene. Standardizing with the same equipment and software creates a better flow to the way we work which increases productivity and accuracy . We have built on to what we already know and use. The additional equipment also allows a quicker response time to the scene".

The Kara Company, of Evanstan , IL , supplied the 11 additional forensic mapping systems, comprised of the Sokkia 4110R, Windows CE data collector with MapScenes Evidence Recorder 3.0 evidence collection software, and MapScenes 2006 desktop software.

"There are a growing number of states that are standardizing their forensic mappers with software and equipment to open roads faster," notes Susan Bracchi, MapScenes Systems Manager. "The Illinois state reconstruction team took the time to evaluate all the options available to them, had representatives come to their location to demonstrate their solutions, and then gave them time to test everything. It is important to make a team decision and choose a professional, 3D capable integrated mapping system."

MapScenes desktop software and Evidence Recorder data collection software are manufactured by MicroSurvey Software, Inc. Experts at collecting data and diagramming for over 20 years, MicroSurvey produces the most advanced crime scene and accident reconstruction mapping software system in the industry.

For more information please contact:

Susan Bracchi, MapScenes Manager
MicroSurvey Software, Inc.
2300 Carrington Road, Suite 110
Westbank, BC, Canada V4T 2N6
Phone: 1-800-668-3312 Fax: (250-707-0150)