A facial composite is a graphical presentation of an eyewitness's memory of a face, as recorded by a composite artist. Facial composites are used mainly by police in their investigation of (usually serious) crimes.
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Construction of the composite was originally performed by a trained artist, through drawing, sketching, or painting, in consultation with a witness or crime victim. In the 1960s techniques were devised for use by those less artistic, employing interchangeable templates of separate facial features, such as "Photofit" in the UK and Smith & Wesson's "Identi-Kit" in the U.S.. More recently, computer generated imaging systems have been developed, such as Smith & Wesson's "Identi-Kit 2000". In the U.S. the FBI maintains that hand-drawing is still the correct method for constructing a facial composite. Many police agencies, however, use software, since developed artistic talent is often not available. The most popular software in the U.S. is FACES, although other popular products are "CompuSketch", "Mac-a-Mug" and "SuspectID". In the UK E-FIT has been widely used, and more recently "PRO-fit".
A general review of research into the evaluation of mechanical template techniques may be found in Davies and Valetine (2006) [1]
The systems used in the UK have been subjected to a number of formal examinations, which have typically shown that E-FIT and PRO-fit produce composites that are correctly named, either immediately or a few hours after construction, only about 20% of the time (see Brace et al. (2000)[2] Bruce et al. (2002) [3] and Davies et al. (2000)) [4]. When witnesses are required to wait two days before constructing a composite, which matches real use more closely, however, naming falls to just a few percent at best (e.g. Frowde et al. (2005)[5])
While the classic use of the facial composite is the citizen recognizing the face as an acquaintance, there are other ways where a facial composite can prove useful. The facial composite can contribute in law enforcement in a number of ways:
Facial composites of various types have been used extensively in those television programmes which aim to reconstruct major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public, such as "America's Most Wanted" in the US and "Crimewatch" in the UK.
Some important criminal cases where facial composites have assisted in identifying the perpetrator:
by experts of the LKA NRW, Germany]]
A facial composite is a graphical representation of an eyewitness's memory of a face, as recorded by a composite artist. Facial composites are used mainly by police in their investigation of (usually serious) crimes.
Contents |
Construction of the composite was originally performed by a trained artist, through drawing, sketching, or painting, in consultation with a witness or crime victim. In the 1960s techniques were devised for use by those less artistic, employing interchangeable templates of separate facial features, such as "Photofit" in the UK and Smith & Wesson's "Identi-Kit" in the US. More recently, computer generated imaging systems have been developed, such as Smith & Wesson's "Identi-Kit 2000". In the U.S. the FBI maintains that hand-drawing is still the correct method for constructing a facial composite. Many police agencies, however, use software, since developed artistic talent is often not available
A general review of research into the evaluation of mechanical template techniques may be found in Davies and Valetine (2006) [1] A review of research into more modern 'feature' and 'recognition' systems, and into methods for improving the effectiveness of composites, may be found in Frowd et al. (2008)[2] and (2009)[3].
The systems used in the UK have been subjected to a number of formal examinations, which have typically shown that E-FIT and PRO-fit produce composites that are correctly named, either immediately or a few hours after construction, only about 20% of the time (see Brace et al. (2000)[4], Bruce et al. (2002) [5], Davies et al. (2000)[6] and Frowd et al. (2005)[7]). When witnesses are required to wait two days before constructing a composite, which matches real use more closely, however, naming falls to a few percent at best (e.g. Frowd et al. (2005)[8] and (2007)[9] [10]). The reason for the low level of naming from these systems appears to be that witnesses are unable to accurately construct the internal features of the face after long delays, the region that is important for recognition by another person later (Frowd et al. (2007)[11]). Research on the newer EvoFIT system has shown naming levels of about 25% after a 2 day delay (see Frowd et al. (2010)[12]). There is a caricaturing technique recently developed to substantially improve the recognition of a composite when published in the media (see Frowd et al. (2007)[13]). Advances have also been made to the type of interview administered to eyewitnesses prior to face construction (e.g. Frowd et al. (2008)[14]).
[[File:|thumb|right|Facial composite of Aafia Siddiqui, created by FBI for a wanted poster[15]]] While the classic use of the facial composite is the citizen recognizing the face as an acquaintance, there are other ways where a facial composite can prove useful. The facial composite can contribute in law enforcement in a number of ways:
Facial composites of various types have been used extensively in those television programmes which aim to reconstruct major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public, such as "America's Most Wanted" in the US and "Crimewatch" in the UK.
Some important criminal cases where facial composites have assisted in identifying the perpetrator:
Important criminal cases where facial composites have not assisted in identifying the perpetrator include:
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