3D cameras capture Southern California crime scenes and allow freeways to reopen much quicker

Crime-scene models with detailed measurements once took hours to collect.

Now, law-enforcement agencies are increasingly turning to new technology to help speed up the work and better collect evidence: laser scanner technology, long a mainstay of construction and surveying work.

The menu screen on a 3D laser. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Steve Gardner, a forensic services supervisor with the Anaheim Police Department, demonstrates how he can colorize a point cloud from a 3D laser scanner. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A 3D laser scanner on a tripod is set up in the forensic lab at the Anaheim Police Department. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The menu selections on the back of a 3D laser scanner. (Photo by Leonard