Police Enter ‘RoboCop’ Age for Accidents

Traffic accident investigators gathered Tuesday at Van Nuys Airport for a day of training with new high-tech computer equipment that they say will more accurately reconstruct serious accidents--and win more cases in court.

The equipment, which was donated to the Los Angeles Police Department, will be used mostly in cases--such as fatal crashes and accidents involving drunk driving--where a criminal prosecution is likely.

The investigators agreed that it was about time the city’s traffic detectives entered the computer age because defense attorneys already have.

“Defense lawyers are already using this equipment,” said Detective Henson Dial, who investigates fatal accidents in the San Fernando Valley. “We’ve lost cases. What do you expect a jury to do when the defense is using scientific equipment and we’re using the old way?”

The old way included using measuring wheels, physics tables and skid marks when figuring estimates on such accident factors as speed and brake application. Police said those methods will still be used but now each traffic division in the city also has an investigation kit that includes a video camera, a mobile computer called the “Blaqq Boxx” and a hand-held piece of equipment called the “G-Analyst Vehicle Dynamics Monitor.” The video camera in the investigation kit will be used by officers to record an accident scene. Currently, still photographs are used.

The five kits, worth about $25,000, were donated by the Greater Los Angeles Motor Car Dealers Assn.

The equipment sounds more akin to RoboCop than accident investigation, but police said it can be easily and quickly used.

By placing the G-Analyst in a duplicate model of a car involved in an accident and then driving through some high speed maneuvers and stops on the same surface where the accident occurred, the device provides data on such forces as acceleration, braking, cornering and the drag the road surface has on tires. By feeding the data into the Blaqq Boxx, police said, they receive a computer profile that can nearly pinpoint how fast a car was going when it made a turn or swerved out of control or its brakes were applied.

“This gives us the accurate data to analyze,” said Officer Mallie Donohoe. “Historically, we had to go to books and look up tables to come up with estimates. Instead of just estimating a driver was going between 50 and 60 m.p.h., with this equipment we will be able to say he was going 54.”

Though police said the kits probably won’t have much bearing on assigning blame for accidents, the specific evidence gathered with them will help prosecutions.

“We are going to be able to put the jury and the judge in the driver’s seat,” said Detective Anthony Bartolotto, supervisor of Valley traffic detectives.

On Tuesday, patrol cars repeatedly sped across the tarmac at the airport, skidding to stops or through turns as officers learned how to use the equipment. Members of the media as well as officials of the car dealers group that donated the equipment were also on hand.

Mickey Garrett, executive vice president of GLAMCDA, said the equipment was developed in the 1970s by car racers so they could test the handling of their cars for the Indianapolis 500, but since then it has gradually been introduced to law enforcement.

Bartolotto said use of the equipment has been accepted by courts. The Los Angeles Police Department is believed to be the first agency in Los Angeles County to have the equipment, he said.