A tripod-mounted laser scanner will rotate 360 degrees and catalog every feature of a crime scene, allowing investigators to later walk through it virtually. A similar tool, meant for consumers, was a key piece of evidence in the CSI episode “Let the Seller Beware,” allowing the team to experience a virtual tour of a living room. The same technique comes back in “Kitty,” the introduction episode to CSI: Cyber, which aired during CSI Season 14.

Today, actual police forensic teams use laser scanning to create virtual crime scenes, but they can even develop a walkable simulation using shots from special cameras. When Stella in CSI: New York needed to identify a vehicle that tore through a park, she used a handheld 3D scanner to collect the tread imprint, another example of high-tech tools that can be found in the real-world.