Creating Digital Faces for Law Enforcement

Michael W. Streed

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780128051023
• eBook ISBN: 9780128052792
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

Today, law enforcement requires actionable and real-time intelligence; 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help respond to cases efficiently. When evidence is lacking in a case, law enforcement officers are often times left to rely on eyewitness descriptions. In order to quickly disseminate facial composites to news outlets and social media, law enforcement needs to rely on every tool available; including traditional forensic artists and advanced facial composite software.Creating Digital Faces for Law Enforcement provides the proper foundation for obtaining key information needed to create effective facial composites. There are two main methods to create a facial composite, first through traditional forensic art techniques and second by using commercially developed facial composite software. Traditional forensic art has advanced from pen and paper to more enhanced digital tools. This text reviews the development of digital tools used by the forensic artist describing each tool in detail. Creating Digital Faces for Law Enforcement is the first text of its kind to address the creation of digital sketches for forensic artists and software-driven sketches for non-artist/technicians.- A step-by-step guide addressing the creation of digital, software-driven, sketches for non-artist technicians- Includes descriptions supported by both photographs and video demonstrations to assist the reader in better understanding the process- Written by an internationally-recognized police sketch artist with over 35 years of experience- A companion website page will host author created / narrated videos for reader access

Chapter 1

Pencils to Pixels

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the history of facial composites in law enforcement and the creation/evolution of mechanical-to-computerized facial composite software systems.

Many in the forensic art field are already aware of the influence of French criminologist Alfonse Bertillon on the field of facial identification. But, how did his work measuring and cataloging facial components influence today's forensic artist and facial composite software systems?

In the next century, Smith and Wesson introduced law enforcement to the Identi-Kit composite in the box, a series of acetate overlays that when put together formed a composite image. For years, this tool was the staple of law enforcement officers needing facial composites.

In the background private companies continued to produce competing facial composite software products in an effort to influence law enforcement, but somehow they always fell short.

It was in this area the author distinguished himself, leading to the development of advanced facial imaging software, such as SketchCop FACETTE Face Design System, bringing Bertillon's studies full circle to set the stage for modern-day face detection.

Keywords

Bertillon; Catalog; Composite pencils; Digital; Facial; FBI; History; Identi-Kit; Identification; Pixels; Police; Sketch; Software; System

Chapter Outline

Identi-Kit

Early Police Sketch Artists

Federal Forensic Artists

Photo-Fit

FACES

SketchCop FACETTE Face Design System Software

The evolution from pencils to pixels began in the late 19th century when Alphonse Bertillon, chief of criminal identification in Paris, France began applying anthropometry, the taking of precise measurements of a criminal's head and body.

This would become the precursor to how forensic artists used eyewitness' recognition skills to aid in creating facial composites. It was also adopted by computer programmers who created facial composite software that many police departments use today.

Before that, it was Bertillon who cataloged each measurement for later comparison against a person whose identity was called into question. Before fingerprints, mug shots, and DNA, police had little else to rely upon when trying to identify repeat offenders.

In 1883, Bertillon used the system to identify his first criminal “recidivist.” Encouraged by his results, Bertillon wanted to further refine and develop an even more useful system that would allow a person to describe a suspect without having to be present to select his or her photo.

The system he eventually devised was even more precise than the one he previously developed. This one involved a system of measurements for the face that became known as “portrait parle,” or “speaking likeness.”

Overtime, variations arose in the measurements when the same person was arrested over and over again. Inconsistency in the measurements and how they changed, as the face aged became the beginning of the end for that system.

Bertillon's system eventually fell out of favor after a misidentification in a case was later solved through the use of fingerprints. However, the idea that faces could be described and identified through careful observation of the landmark features was a breakthrough itself.

Later, when photography was developed, law enforcement began using criminal mug shots as a method for identifying wanted suspects.

Bertillion's methods were not without merit though, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's forensic artists would adopt his methods to help them develop their own facial reference catalog that forensic artists around the world use when interviewing eyewitnesses.

Since the early 1900s law enforcement agencies were using hand-drawn sketches produced by newspaper or editorial artists with no law enforcement training. More importantly, they had no formal interview training or knowledge of forensic art.

It was not until the 1950s that a product was introduced to law enforcement that would allow them to increase their use of facial composites without having to find an artist to sketch their crook.

Identi-Kit

The evolution from freehand sketching to mechanical assembly kits can be traced to Hugh MacDonald, a Los Angeles Police Department civilian chief and former army intelligence officer credited with inventing the Identi-Kit.

In 1940, MacDonald was in Europe, conducting a series of investigations, when he decided that it would be easier to create a set of facial templates versus sketching out individual criminals.

His idea resulted in his sketches being created (transposed onto) on cellophane sheets. The first Identi-Kit consisted of approximately 525–568 images of several facial components, including eyes, noses, mouths, chins, beards, and mustaches.

Each transparency sheet was assigned a number and code. This would allow the operator to communicate them to other police agencies so that they could recreate the same composite without having to send the graphic, which back then was a much more difficult task than it is today.

In 1959, the Identi-Kit became commercially available to police departments across the United States. Though it quickly became a popular crime fighting tool, it was the Los Angeles Police Department's investigation of the “Lonely Hearts Killer” that illustrated how accurate a rendition the Identi-Kit could create. Two of the earliest documented successes using the mechanical systems occurred in the United States and England. In both instances, the Identi-Kit system was used.

In 1958, a notorious killer began roaming Los Angeles, preying on young women. Back then, the city was still a growing metropolis with a police department in the throes of reorganization. A professional organization with a fine reputation for solving crime, the Los Angeles Police Department began an investigation on a suspect they would come to call “The Lonely Hearts Killer.”

Harvey Glatman posed as a photographer for a True Detective magazine. He would meet his female prey by placing personal ads in the newspaper.

Glatman bound and gagged his victims under the pretense that they were taking part in a photo shoot for the magazine's cover. Glatman asked them to feign frightened poses while he photographed them. Obsessed with bondage since his youth, Glatman would tie them up with rope and then gag them, saying it was for the photos. These props, however, served to trap them and prevent their screaming when their terror became real as he raped and strangled them.

Officers were able to arrest Glatman after one of his victims overpowered him and took his gun. Fearing for her life, she shot Glatman in the leg and held him until police arrived.

His arrest confirmed the remarkable accuracy of a composite image that investigators had created of the suspect using the Identi-Kit.

Glatman was later convicted for the torture and murder of several victims and executed in California's gas chamber.

After the success of the Identi-Kit in capturing the suspect's likeness during the Lonely Hearts Killer investigation, the system became a staple for law enforcement agencies needing facial composites.

Soon, the Identi-Kits use expanded overseas to England.

It was not long before the product became an international sensation.

After a woman was found slain in her antique store in London, on March 3, 1961, investigators used the Identi-Kit to construct a composite image of a person seen inside the shop the day before the murder.

About four days later, a beat officer detained Edwin Bush, a twenty-one-year-old petty thief who resembled the composite. Bush was positively identified as the suspect and later admitted to the murder. He was executed in July of that year.

Before his execution, Bush conceded that the image looked like him. The constable in charge of the investigation gave full credit for closing the case to the American-made facial identification system.

Several years later, English law enforcement authorities would help pioneer their own system called E-Fit. It was developed with the assistance of Scotland Yard and is still widely used today by police throughout England.

By the fall of 1969, there were 42 Identi-Kits in operation throughout England and Wales accounting for approximately 2500–3000 facial composites that were created annually by British police.

The first Identi-Kits were wooden boxes containing hundreds of facial component transparencies that were categorized by individual tabs.

The operator would sit down with the eyewitness who would make his or her selection. This process would be repeated until the operator had all the transparencies necessary to build a full face.

After the eyewitness completed his or her selections, the operator would carefully stack the cellophane components on top of one another to create a complete face. The transparencies were held in place by paper clips to prevent them from coming apart.

If there was editing to be done, the kit contained a grease pencil that the operator would use to draw on additional hairstyles, or make additions to the beard or mustache.

The results were often crude. But, back then, without the versatile photo editing software programs we have today, it was a difficult task. Especially, if you did not have artistic skills.

Over the years, the Identi-Kit evolved into a computer software program whose database expanded from the initial 500+ facial components to about 2200 that allowed operators to create billions of facial combinations as well as providing software editing tools to further refine their images. Most recently, the makers of Identi-Kit released their newest version of their software touting a remastered, high definition facial component database.

Up until then, police sketches had been developed by artists like myself drawing freehand. Often police investigators would borrow artists from a local newspaper or commission an artist from the community. As such, use of police sketches was reserved for only the most heinous cases.

During the early years, there also was no standardized training for police sketch artists and no organization to provide it. Since then, there have been many training courses developed throughout the Unit...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• About the Author
• Acknowledgments
• Author's Note
• Appendix Section
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Pencils to Pixels
• Chapter 2. Getting Started
• Chapter 3. When, Where, Why, and How?
• Chapter 4. The Eyewitness
• Chapter 5. The Interview
• Chapter 6. The Human Face
• Chapter 7. Courtroom Testimony
• Chapter 8. Lights, Camera…Facial Composites in the Media
• Chapter 9. Digital Tools
• Chapter 10. Let's Make Faces
• Chapter 11. Change-a-Face
• Chapter 12. Putting It All Together
• Chapter 13. Facing the Future
• Appendix A. Forensic Facial Imaging Unit Technical Training Manual
• Appendix B. Forensic Facial Imaging Unit Standard Operating Procedures
• Appendix C. Forensic Facial Imaging Unit Services Request Form
• Appendix D. Eyewitness Interview Worksheet
• Appendix E. Facial Composite Report Form
• Appendix F. Determining Spatial Relationships
• Appendix G. Facial Composite Template Example: The Average Face
• Appendix H. Facial Composite Template
• Appendix I. Approximating Age in Facial Composites
• Appendix J. Facial Muscles Versus Facial Lines/Wrinkles
• Appendix K. Common Facial Bone Structure to Consider When Creating Facial Composites
• Appendix L. Comparison of How Facial Features Line Up on the Skull
• Forensic Art Terminology
• Wacom Tablet Terminology
• Corel Painter Terminology
• Adobe Photoshop Terminology
• Index