AFTE Store - Determining a Firearm’s Length from a Photograph using Reverse Projection Photogrammetry

Bank robbery, for many years, has been a crime investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation pursuant to Title 18, USC, Section 2113, of the Federal Criminal Code. This “law” provides an enhanced penalty if the bank robber uses a dangerous weapon during the commission of the crime. Title 18, USC, Section 924 amplifies the penalty by ten years if the dangerous weapon is a short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun. Short-barreled weapons are defined in Title 26, USC, Section 5845 as shotguns with a barrel length of eighteen inches or less. Since 1968, FDIC insured financial institutions have been required to install camera systems, designed to record the commission of a bank robbery, at strategic locations within their buildings. A photogrammetric technique will be discussed that produces dimensional information thereby providing pertinent lengths of the firearm. This information becomes invaluable to the Prosecutor if the firearm used by the bank robber is not recovered during the investigation.