VINCube

The VinCube is a forensic tool to acquire identification data from stolen vehicles or vehicle parts subject to identification investigation. The VINCUBE was developed in a partnership between the Rotterdam Police, Launch Tech and in the later stage, Interpol. The development of the VINCube started with a concept based on actual cases. In 2006, Martin Coyne founded and initiated the VIN-reading concept based on actual cases that were under forensic investigation. The concept was advanced in 2009 into a full joint project to develop the specialized technology. The original concept founded in 2006 and was re-originated by the Netherlands Police with funding from the Netherlands Ministry of Justice in 2009. The project developed by colleagues of the TOD, the Netherlands Police was successful and based on the global demand the project was handed over to Interpol for further development. Today the technology is a Law Enforcement standard in vehicle forensics. A team of 4 colleagues worked on the development, 2 civilians and 2 Police officers, crash Reconstruction experts, one of which was the project manager. Since 2012, the CUBE project was handed over to Interpol and Launch Tech, since 2012 Mr Coyne nor Digitpol has any involvement in the development or management, the project is under management of Launch Tech co ltd.

The hardware and software data extracted can be used by Vehicle Examination teams to build a highly accurate and forensic understanding of what parts are fitted to a vehicle, the serial numbers and production data of each installed part. Some examples are:

VIN of each coded part
Serial number of each coded part
Production date of each part
Number of coded keys
Number of different VIN
Cross reference to the Police database for stolen checks
A forensic report is produced with a hash value

Current Status:

Originated by Rotterdam Police in effort to create a tool capable of imaging ‘freeze frame’ event or other stored vehicle data from vehicles manufactured 2006 onwards (pre EDR Europe).

2009/2010 – European partners engaged to assist in data collection, beta testing and proofing of the platform for two initial devices, CrashCube and VinCube.
2010/2011 – Testing with partners and NFI including vehicle crash testing
2011/2012 Due to the re-organization of the Dutch Police, the Project was handed over to Interpol.

Deployment

2012/2013 – Development of Phase 2.