Murder caught on camera

A mangled car wreck, a spider's web of electrical cords in a drug house; grisly autopsy photos.

Senior Constable Ian Pearson's work plays in unison on two computer screensavers on his desk.

"I'll just shut this down, eh?" he says with an apologetic smile and wriggle of his computer mouse. "Post mortems are fascinating," he muses as a grisly image disappears.

"Truth is stranger than fiction. You wouldn't write some of the stuff that we see."

Pearson, dressed in a calming lilac shirt and slacks, has seen it all in his two decades of policing; from bizarre burglaries and midnight car crashes to decapitations and the darker side of death - but he still loves his job.

This week he and his photography co-worker Senior Constable Duncan Jeffery were each awarded 21-year service medals and the crime scene duo also each received a District Commander's Commendation for technical work conducted following a 2017 Black Power shooting at Mongrel Mob members in Whakatāne, known as Operation Waiotahi.

The investigation and conviction of 25 Black Power members relied heavily upon multiple videos recovered from cellphones and closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage recorded during the violent attack.

The pair's preparation of "highly technical evidential items" was deemed instrumental in gaining so many convictions.

As two of 50 fulltime and 28 relieving forensic photographers across New Zealand, their job is not for the faint of heart.

Pearson's specialty is in video surveillance enhancements and analysis and he is called on to provide training in CCTV to national forensic training courses.

He's also believed to have recovered more number plates than anyone in the country; and investigates, prepares and gives evidence in court that's had to be peer-reviewed by experts overseas because no one in New Zealand has equal skills.

Jeffery says there's no officer in the country that's as "clued up" as Pearson is with CCTV, which nowadays consumes half of police photography work.

Photographers are required to take still images from video, edit down relevant sections, or follow subjects around multiple cameras and complete basic format conversions or enhancements.

"Most incidents from shoplifting to homicide will have a CCTV component with commercial, council or private CCTV camera systems everywhere," explains Pearson.

"Each system records to different formats, dimensions and frame rates, and we need to make all these go together for court in a forensically sound manner, without distorting or otherwise changing the footage."

A lot of evidence is also caught on witnesses' cellphones with the video shaky and captured in low-light.

"We will lighten and stabilise the footage or do other enhancements."

At the time of our interview, he was helping Auckland's High Tech Crime Group (HTCG) try and retrieve deleted digital video footage from a suspect's house as part of a homicide investigation.

Inspector John Walker, national manager Forensic Services, says the demand for forensic imaging services has evolved within New Zealand police, largely driven by changes in technology - film to digital in 2005; darkroom to Mac computers; and the widespread and growing use of private and public CCTV.

"Expectations for quality images, videos and virtual reality presentations to support the judicial system are also increasing," Walker says.

Police forensic photographers are all sworn officers and have to complete a Diploma in Forensic Imaging training programme through the Royal New Zealand Police College.

One of their best, Pearson, 43, has come a long way from being a "green" cop in the late-1990s.

He had a reasonably sheltered start in life. Born in Mosgiel to a Presbyterian minister and his wife, his parents rarely drank, none of his school friends' parents were divorced, and he had no knowledge of domestic violence. But joining the police was all he ever wanted to do.

At school, he was a science, maths and technology "geek", and after a short stint in the building trade helping his brother, he was accepted into Police College.

His first post was in Whanganui before he moved to Auckland, where he spent 10 years as a Scene of Crime Officer (SOCO), recording and storing evidence from crime scenes.

Outside of work, he had small film production business covering community events like fashion shows and Porirua Christmas at the Park; leading the way for him to pursue police photography in 2007.

He came to Tauranga in 2015, bringing with him a considerable photography skillset that didn't exist previously in the Bay of Plenty, says head of Tauranga Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner.

"He has taken court presentation to a whole new level. Ian is always researching and looking for ways to enhance the images and footage that he can provide to investigators and improve the way that we present it to judges and juries. He is recognised nationally as a bit of a leader in this field."

Pearson and Jeffery hold the Digital First Responders (DFR) role for the Western Bay of Plenty, which sees them take forensic copies of seized digital devices, so that the data can be examined by the officer in charge of the case or sent to the HTCG for further analysis.

They also examine phones or cameras that have been handed into the station as lost property and have an 80 per cent high hit-rate of returning them to their owners. Pearson says it would be easier if everyone added an emergency contact into their phone.

The real merits of their work, however, lies in the neutrality of their crime scene photos.

Using a Canon 5D Mark IV, photos must not contain any artistic or interpretative elements so they can be used in an unbiased manner to determine what occurred.

"The majority of our work is pretty simple, but the exciting bit is when you've got to do a little of contrast photography. Bullet trajectory with a laser - that's quite cool," Pearson says with a boyish grin.

He adds: "Often it's about creating contrast. You might have red blood on a red car, which means we might use an infrared camera and the red blood will go dark and the car will go white. I can do stuff with UV, IR and fluorescents, but get me to a wedding and try and get people to pose and make it artistic and moody?" He shakes his head and laughs.

Forensic photos are processed through Adobe Lightroom and given "global adjustments" but not much else. "It's pretty quick."

Detectives and lawyers get every raw image unless a flash hasn't gone or there's a duplicate. All photos are put into a proof-book and burnt to disc and hard drive.
"That's just this year," he says opening a drawer behind his desk with several rows of white-cased DVDs.

A lot go to court and some are brought out again later if a historic crime is reviewed. "Things like the (1970) Jeanette and Harvey Crewe homicide … All the negatives had to be scanned and they rebuilt the books for that."

Despite forensic photographers' depiction on the television screen, their work isn't dramatic.

"I always say: 'You see worse on TV'. All those CSI programmes, there always seems to be smoke and it's dark. We generally don't go to homicide scenes at night because you miss stuff. Blood is really hard to see in the dark."

Car crashes are photographed at night because roads need to be reopened, or anything on a beach that's being threatened by the tide, but most crime scenes are bathed in sunshine.

"You're with people you know, you're talking about your weekend and you're in a nice place … You're there to do a job and you've got to focus on lighting and exposure, even though you might be leaning over that far from someone's head," he demonstrates by leaning down from his office swivel chair to eyeball the carpet.

He has an eagle eye for detail and tut-tuts if colleagues touch one of his television-sized computer screens.

"I'm always wiping it because I see the fingerprints. It drives me nuts!"

Jeffery, who has been a police photographer for 17 years, says Pearson is someone who works to the "highest possible standard".

They share an office but work week-about. There are four forensic photographers in the Bay of Plenty - the other two are in Rotorua.

Once every four weeks, one of them will cover the entire Bay of Plenty after 4pm, and all weekend. This could see them called out towards East Cape or the Desert Road.

Jeffery, also aged 43, is a dad of eight home-schooled daughters, a Star Wars fanatic and prefers to sit on a mint-coloured swiss ball over an office chair. His desk is surrounded in photos of his blonde-haired girls: "It's like living in a Barbie story," he jokes.

He and Pearson bond over their experiences at work and wind down by spending time with family.

"That switch between work-mode and family-mode, for me it's definitely something you work on," he muses.

"If you're at a scene you can easily start to go down the road of how the other person was feeling and you've got to stop yourself. You've got to be a robot or you just can't do your job.

"You do [use] police black humour as a coping mechanism."

They can spend less than a couple of hours photographing the aftermath of a crime, or an entire week. It depends on the scene.

Sometimes they wear a standard police vest, sometimes it's a boiler suit and gas mask to disguise deathly odours and prevent their own DNA from contaminating the area.

Compared to officers who work with the victim's family, Pearson says a photographer's job is easy - but he does feel for victims and their families.

"I still get really teary when the family comes in. Once we've done the main scene and the body's getting released, they'll come and often do a karakia or prayer as the body's coming out. We have a bit of a break ... try and go somewhere around the corner, but if you can hear them all wailing you can't not get emotional."

Married with no children, his self-published novelist wife Jasmine is a good supporter and listener. They're escaping to the UK and Europe for a holiday in September. He and Jeffery also see a psychologist every three months.

Their boss Detective Senior Sergeant Turner says of all the groups in the police, photographers regularly attend "the worst of the worst" but Pearson is laid-back and "displays no real outward signs of being rattled or phased by anything".

He has no bad dreams, just a desire to help solve intricate crime puzzles. "Every photo is thought about … there's a method.

"I don't know what else I could do to be honest," he says, while pausing to contemplate an alternate job without horrific tales.

"I do love the police. It's one of those jobs where there's just so many roles and when you find your niche - it's fantastic."