Now it's CSI New Zealand

Forensic scientists at the ESR will next month begin using CSI-style technology in the shape of a new high-speed laser modelling device.

Forensic scientists to use $60,000 laser to make fast, accurate digital reconstructions.

Cutting-edge laser technology that can quickly build a 3D model of a crime scene will bring new clarity to New Zealand courtrooms.

Forensic scientists at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) will next month begin using CSI-style technology in the shape of a new high-speed laser modelling device. The Focus3Dx130 quickly and accurately creates 3D colour images of crime scenes.

Built by world-leading German company Faro, the $60,000 device works by shooting millions of lasers in all directions around a room, recording measurements of the scanned surfaces.

ESR forensic scientist Jason Barr said the device would mean crime scene analyses could be done faster and with more precision than with ESR's current laser, a Faro scanner purchased in 2012.

It can measure the position, size and orientation of evidence such as firearm trajectories or blood patterns down to millimetre accuracy and present them clearly to juries in court cases.

"It's a huge step up on all levels," Mr Barr said.

ESR forensic programme manager Dr Jill Vintiner said the device would mean ESR could conduct investigations faster and throughout New Zealand.

The current laser is used mainly in the North Island, and data it has gathered has been used for investigations including those into a fatal shooting in Rotorua and an assault on an Auckland policeman.