The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Accident Reconstruction Team’s primary mission is to investigate and reconstruct fatal and serious injury motor vehicle crashes that often result in the prosecution of felony vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges.

Team members are trained as Traffic Crash Reconstructionists which includes collision analysis, vehicle dynamics, occupant kinematics, scene photography, surveying equipment, crash scene mapping and computer aided drawing programs.  The team also has Crash Data Retrieval Technicians and Analysts who can image stored computer information from the vehicles that were involved in a collision.  These investigations include the examination of the roadway, physical evidence, and analysis of vehicle damage.  Concepts derived from the application of physics are applied using mathematics to reconstruct the crash.

The Traffic Unit utilizes a Laser Technology Inc. (LTI) MapStar Angle Encoder to obtain scene measurements and produce a computer-generated scale diagram of the scene to aid in the successful prosecution of these cases. The LTI MapStar Angle Encoder is an advanced surveying system that utilizes a LTI TruSpeed SXB Laser and reflective prism to obtain extremely accurate measurements. The measurements are captured using a tablet in the field and later transferred to a computer where the FARO Zone computer program is utilized to prepare 2D and / or 3D crash and crime scene diagrams.

Additional measurement and collection devices utilized by the Traffic Unit include the FARO Scanner, drag sleds, Vericom Performance Computers, and a drone.