UCD to lead way in audio, video forensics

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 5, 2008 at 4:45 p.m.
Updated February 5, 2008 at 4:45 p.m.

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Denver may become a mecca for police nationwide who need to solve crimes by carefully analyzing audio and video evidence.

A professor at the University of Colorado at Denver has won $710,000 in Federal Earmark Grants to establish a new National Center for Audio/Video Forensics.

Housed in UCD's Department of Music and Entertainment Industry Studies, the center would establish a "cutting-edge forensics center" to spur new knowledge and methods in the field of audio and video forensics, Professor Richard Sanders said.

Undergraduates, graduates and professionals could learn the latest techniques in, say, tracking phone use by prisoners, or discovering when someone is impersonating another's voice to move cash out of a bank account.

Voice biometrics would work in combination with fingerprints, DNA and facial recognition to identify suspects.

The grant will give real-world research opportunities to students in recording arts, statistics, computer science and the health sciences programs, Sanders said.

It also will give local police, attorneys, investigators and homeland security officers access to state-of-the-art forensics technology, he said.

Sanders' work in audio forensics was tapped by investigators working the the JonBenet Ramsey case, the Kobe Bryant case, the Columbine High School shootings and the Oklahoma City bombing trial.

The grants were awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice. Additional support came from the university, the international Audio Engineering Society, the American College of Forensic Examiners, the American Board of Recorded Evidence and the National Law Enforcement Technology Center.

scanlon@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2897

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