It sounds like something out of a science fiction thriller but police investigators will soon be able to examine their crime scenes by manipulating realistic three-dimensional computer models that can be displayed on a laptop within minutes of police arriving at a crime scene. The models can be used to measure and document everything in the scene and transmitted to other investigators. And they can be viewed, months or years later, by people who never visited the scene, such as forensic experts, judges and juries.

Investigators who've seen demonstrations of this technology said it could allow them to process crime scenes more completely and quickly with less risk of contaminating the evidence. But they emphasized that the accuracy and reliability of the computer models must be proven before they'll be accepted as evidence in court.