EvoFIT composite face construction via practitioner interviewing and a witness-administered protocol

Abstract

Police require reliable facial-composite systems to help identify, arrest and convict criminals. Recent developments, however, have allowed newer versions of the EvoFIT composite system to be made available for policing. The outcome is an online (cloudbased) version and a new system called Witness At Home, both using a simpler interface. Here, we formally compare these two versions to establish potential benefits to policing. Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, participants observed a target identity for 1 minute and returned 4 hours (Witness At Home) or 24 hours (EvoFIT Online) to construct a composite from memory. No significant difference in composite accuracy was found. In Experiment 2, participants constructed a composite, 24-hours after seeing a target identity, using either EvoFIT Online or Witness At Home. A significant increase in accurate identification was found for EvoFIT Online, with some utility for the self-administered procedure, together indicating benefit for these newer systems plus some areas for development.

The importance of detailed context reinstatement for the production of identifiable composite faces from memory

“…We also thought it could be beneficial to law enforcement to assess the effectiveness of CR for a novel method of face construction. Recent technological advances have enabled witnesses to construct a composite themselves in their own time (e.g., Martin et al, 2018). This development allows composites to be used in investigations of less serious crime (e.g., minor theft, vandalism and anti-social behaviour), cases where police practitioners may not have the time (e.g., Alison et al, 2013) to interview witnesses to create a composite.…”

Forensic Facial Composites

“…With these motivations in mind, we have been assessing selfadministered procedures, both for standalone (non-Internet) and online applications. Using a simple face-recall CI, Martin et al (2018) found that composites were self-constructed after a long delay with naming of about 25% correct. This initial work highlighted the importance of ergonomic processes and, if an online app is used, the need to limit Internet delays.…”