The development of an intelligent virtual environment for training

Crime scene investigation generally involves a substantial amount of time at the scene itself. This is often inconvenient, and there is not enough time or resources to satisfactorily complete the investigation. This may be due to a limitation on the time that the scene can be kept sealed or due to the geographical disparities or schedules of colleagues. Computer graphics has become more common in crime scene investigation, for example in the 3D representation of objects (Little et al., 2000). With computers continually increasing in power, new tools are available that allow the operator to interact, in real time, with a computer-generated virtual environment. This chapter explores the potential use of such real-time virtual environments as an additional tool in crime scene investigation. It discusses an environment that integrates a virtual environment with an intelligent system.