Draft:FORENSIC ART - COMPUTERISED

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. 2001:8003:4281:1000:F8B8:17A1:7AA2:A4AC (talk) 10:56, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

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The first 'Point of Proof' that has to be proven in any conviction is 'IDENTITY'. Evidence may physical (e.g. forensic / Fingerprints, DNA etc), from 'Experts in their field' (e.g. from Arson investigators), Circumstantial, M.O. or 'Similar Facts'.All of this evidence is presented to the courts and shows that an offence was indeed committed. But who was the perpetrator? 'IDENTITY' is paramount. In years gone by, the British Courts convicted many offenders to have the sentences served in Penal Colonies abroad (e.g. Mainland Australia and Tasmania.) The ships manifest would contain details of their cargo including the hundreds of convicts being transported in the hulls of these old sailing ships. In the absence of cameras, convicts' descriptions were in written form only. 'Name, age, height, hair (color), complexion (e.g. 'ruddy'), Head (e.g. Large, small), Visage (e.g. Oval. round), Nose (e.g. long, thin, broad), Eyes (e.g. large, narrow, small), Eyebrows (e.g. Bushy, thin), Moustache/Beard/Scars/Marks ... and that was it.

Artist impressions emerged. These may have been of an offender in the dock, sketched during court proceedings for the media. They were never used for the purpose of describing individual offenders arrested or held in custody. Their main role evolved more for describing an offender being sought for a particular crime - the 'Wanted Poster'. Forensic artists, as they've now become known, continue through to the current day in some jurisdictions. An advance in 'Offender Identification' didn't emerge until 1959 when a Los Angeles Police Officer Hugh C. McDonald created 'IDENTIKIT' a term that has become synonymous with facial identification. Carried in a small wooden box which contained numerous clear transparent 'overlays' of facial components. Each sheet had a single, black outline of a facial feature (e.g. hair, chin, eyes, nose and mouth etc) Once a witness had selected a 'nose' from a printed page of noses, that (and other features would be placed, one atop of the other which, when placed on a white background provided a black line image of the offender. Identikit was sold internationally and was purchased by Victoria Police in Australia in 1960. At that time, Detective Sergeant John J. ROGERS an exceptionally skilled artist had been appointed as the Force's first 'Identification Officer'. His skills were slow in being recognized, but with the acquisition of IDENTIKIT, the unit's achievements saw the unit being expanded to include two additional sworn members, Detective Sergeants, Owen LLOYD and Donald THOMPSON. The expansion of the unit was to service investigators throughout the State of Victoria (not just the city of Melbourne).

IDENTIKIT served law enforcement agencies well for the next decade when, in 1970, an Englishman, John RYAN devised a new offender identification system, PHOTOFIT. For reasons not known, he marketed PHOTOFIT as having been designed by 'Jacques PENRY'. The system ultimately became known as the 'PENRY PHOTOFIT'. Compiled by using actual photographic components, the created images were 'photo-realistic' and were compiled by sliding selected features into a frame to be held firm. The black and white images were further enhanced by placing a clear sheet of acetate over the image, and by using chinagraph pencils, eyes could be lightened, hair altered, scars added, facial piercings etc added at the witness's direction. It was a great improvement on IDENTIKIT ... however it was basically restricted to 'white caucasian' and with English accessories such as Bowler Hats and flat, felt sporting caps etc. Victoria Police adopted PHOTOFIT in 1970 and despite its limitations, the basic concept worked well and was used for the next 15years. As LLYOD and THOMPSON transferred out, the unit's members changed over time and included the temporary secondment of another Detective Sergeant, Adrian J. Paterson. In 1983, when ROGERS retires, PATERSON took over as the Officer in Charge. He immediately recognized that investigators (and witnesses) were not receiving the best possible Criminal Identification services. The challenges were many. Australia's population, prior to, and since WW11, had continually evolved with a steady increase by immigration and refugee intake. In addition to the British convicts, Australia saw the early arrival of Afghani Camel drivers and Chinese goldminers, extending to Italians, Greeks, Maltese, Vietnamese (after the war), New Zealanders, Sri Lankans, Pacific Islanders and an increasing number from the Middle East. Australia, of course, had its indiginous population as well. Victoria, in particular, had become VERY multi-cultural and the tired, torn, tattered ageing PHOTOFIT was of little use.

PATERSON began looking for a replacement system only to find that there was nothing at all that would meet the unit's needs. With both IDENTIKIT and PHOTOFIT, witness had to look through a manual displaying pages of facial features. This was daunting for witnesses to try and select a nose (eyes or a mouth etc) and once the selected feature was place within the composite image, it looked wrong. Peeple tend to remember a 'face' not an individual feature (unless significant). PATERSON wanted a witness to see a face image emerge on a screen with individual features 'scrolling' through the 'face' until one caught their attention. A proposal to have a 'tower' of slide projectors, each one loaded with components that could be projected onto a screen. One projector could then 'scroll' through slide-by-slide with the features appearing 'in situ'. This option was also flawed. Although it allowed a witness to the composite emerge on screen in front of them, none of the facial components could be edited (e.g. by making a mouth wider or a nose longer.) It wasn't at all flexible. Data-processing, including basic graphics (Pie Charts and Graphs) were making an impact as were simple computer games (e.g. 'Space Invaders'). It was the visual display of such data that ignited the concept of displaying a face image 'On-screen'. It would be two years before a local Victorian computer-graphic company (Vision Control Australia) agreed to look at the concept. PATERSON's operational specification were challenging. He wanted the Squad to be able to create and edit their own component database. Components, selected from a designated gender category (e.g. Nose, long, thin), would then scroll through, with the ability to 'short-list' selections before choosing one, then moving onto the next. Once the basic face had been created, stretched and altered to get it as close as possible, and there was then the need for further editing, he wanted graphic software to enable the forensic artist to add (as directed) facial jewelry, tattoos, scars, moles etc. The ultimate aim was to create an image limited only by what the witness could remember. Features of any nationality needed to be able to be 'mixed' allowing for descriptions of any offender who may be of mixed nationality. These demands were challenging enough, but PATERSON also wanted the system to be in high-resolution, full color with any differing component skin color to be 'averaged' and merged to create a photo-realistic image. It would be a further two years of joint development before PATERSON (on behalf of Victoria Police) signed the commissioning agreement making the F.A.C.E. System (Facial Automated Composition and Editing) the world's first full color, high resolution offender imaging system finally. The Criminal Identification Squad continued to further develop F.A.C.E. to include a database of offence and witness details as well using lap-tops (enabling interviews to be conducted in the field - at hospitals and crime scenes etc) Interviews were also conducted via video-conferencing for quick access to witnesses in remote areas. F.A.C.E, was marketed internationally with Canada being the first law enforcement agency to adopt it with Malaysia following. The versatility of F.A.C.E, was no better high-lighted than when Al-Qaeda killed 100 in terrorist explosion in Bali, Indonesia. Before flying to Bali to assist the Australia Federal Police, the Victoria Police Criminal Identification Squad loaded the Malaysian component database onto the Squad's Laptops. Within days of arriving in Denpassar and interviewing a number of witnesses, descriptions of the three main suspects were obtained and distributed assisting in the identification and arrest of all three. In the 25years that PATERSON was Officer in Charge of the Victoria Police Criminal Identification Squad, the squad was responsible for the confirmed positive identification of 4,709 positive offender identifications. PATERSON retired from Victoria Police in 2018 after 54 years in Law Enforcement aged 72years. The squad continues to provide investigators with a wide range of offender and graphic services including computer facial editing, computer ageing, 2D and 3D crime scene re-constructions (for Coronial enquiries and court proceedings), and present day 'Facial Recognition' of offenders ... throughout the State of Victoria.