Chico PD uses iphone and drones

The Chico Police Department (CPD) is entering a new era of evidence processing and collection.

The department says it is now the only California law enforcement agency north of Sacramento using Pix4D. The software generates 3D images of crime scenes using the Mavic 3 Enterprise drone with a mechanical shutter or an iPhone Pro.

“If you see officers out there with a cell phone on a selfie stick going really slow, sometimes at unique angles, that’s what we’re doing. We’re trying to capture those images for Pix4D,” said Sgt. Todd Lefkowitz, unmanned aerial systems supervisor for the Chico Police Department. “We’re basically doing multiple laps around our crime scene. If it’s a vehicle involved in a crash, then we’ll walk around that vehicle with our phones on a selfie stick taking multiple pictures.”

Lefkowitz says the department had to buy a special gaming computer with a graphics card to run the software. They use the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) capabilities of an iPhone to take more detailed pictures, as well as a drone to take pictures from a long distance.

“When we get close, the drone loses detail,” he said.

The images taken from both devices can be combined to create a more comprehensive 3D scene.

Lefkowitz says the 3D images can be presented to a jury in a courtroom or given to prosecutors in the district attorney’s office to help with a case.

“We’re able to move it around, we’re able to rotate it, fly in or zoom in and just give the person watching it an immersive way of looking at a crime scene… Let’s even take it to one [deputy district attorney] pursue the case. They were not at the crime scene, but now we expect them to pursue the case as if they were there,” he said.

The department already trained a handful of officers on the software and already used it in several serious cases, including a homicide and fatal accidents.