Imagine arriving at your business, the business you spent years making it grow into a prosperous organization; your eyes see the reality that some lowlife has broken the door in and helped himself to your “stuff.” The subject is long gone, but you know there was at least one witness – the surveillance video! That’s right, even though no one actually saw the individual that did the crime, your video setup captured the perpetrator in action. Law enforcement and the business owner get down to the business of reviewing the digital video files and are disheartened to find that the subject was wearing a cap and sunglasses.  All is not lost! Your friendly neighborhood Forensic Artist may be able to help.

By utilizing the artists’ knowledge of facial anatomy, and how light hits the planes of the face, and your knowledge of how the proportions of the face change with various head angles, the Forensic Artist can develop a sketch from the surveillance video – even if the images(s) are somewhat blurry, or a portion of the face is missing on some of the images

Only do a sketch if the sketch can aid an investigation. When you cannot accurately sketch a suspect, simply do not do the sketch. Let the requester know there is not sufficient data for you to complete a sketch. Doing a sketch where the information is not there only hampers the case. This can result in false leads and a means for a Defense Attorney to attack not only the sketch but your credibility as an artist. You do not want to be the one on the stand having to defend a video sketch that looks nothing like the defendant.

Disguises are getting more elaborate, realistic, and inventive. This can definitely steer the investigation in the wrong direction. The artist should be very conscious of these disguises. Keep an eye on the ears, mouth and eyes, and overall unnatural appearances.

You may be asked to draw a subject’s tattoos, shirt logos, hats, jewelry, etc., in addition to facial sketches. Be sure you only draw what you see – do not add something that is not there! That being said, you may find yourself having to add a feature that is not clearly visible. In this case, use your knowledge of the anatomy of the face and average proportions – draw an average feature, representative of the particular race, gender, and age. The video can also help determine the subject’s height, build, right or left-handed, gait or subjects mannerisms.