United Nations: UNODC Vessel CSI

VRG developed a real-time 3D simulation for training crime scene investigation officers on how to identify relevant evidence.

When migrant smuggling vessels are intercepted an investigation is required to gather evidence. This process includes interviews with the captain, crew and passengers and also includes gathering evidence on the seized vessel.

Previously training exercises have been conducted on real shipping vessels which has been expensive and difficult to organize travel arrangements for participants.

The training sessions are run across SE Asia so one constraint was that the module should not require any special equipment such as a VR headset. VRG developed a search scenario using Unity Engine which runs on any medium spec modern laptop.

The results of each trainee session are stored on servers hosted in the cloud and accessible by the course instructors. The selections made by each trainee can then be discussed to facilitate a greater understanding of what could be evidence of migrant smuggling in a criminal prosecution. This level of individual tutorial wouldn’t be possible in a group activity with a real vessel.

The first stage of production was to scan an actual vessel of the type frequently used to smuggle migrants in the region. We put together a virtual tour of the vessel as a reference and built a 3D model based on that.