Annex of supplementary composite systems
The procedures listed here are supplementary materials to Fodarella, C., Kuivaniemi-Smith,
H. J., Gawrylowicz, J. and Frowd, C. D. (2015), "Forensic procedures for facial-composite
construction", Journal of Forensic Practice.
Please contact Charlie.Frowd@winchester.ac.uk if you would like to include a faceconstruction procedure for another composite system to this annex.
History
Version 1.0. 5th April 2015. Creation. Includes FACES 4.0.
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Forensic procedures for facial-composite construction using FACES 4.0
Curt A. Carlson
Department of Psychology, Counseling, & Special Education, Texas A&M University Commerce, Commerce, Texas 75429, US
Please reference this paper as –
Carlson, C. (2015). Forensic procedures for facial-composite construction using FACES 4.0,
http://tiny.cc/comp-procedural-annex. Annex to Fodarella, C., Kuivaniemi-Smith, H. J.,
Gawrylowicz, J. and Frowd, C. D. (2015), "Forensic procedures for facial-composite
construction", Journal of Forensic Practice.
FACES 4.0 (IQ Biometrix, 2003), like PRO-fit, is a feature-based composite system which
constructs greyscale faces. It is the most commonly used composite system in the United
States (McQuiston-Surrett, Topp and Malpass, 2006), though research has shown that
composites constructed with this program are neither perceived nor remembered like real
faces, which could be due to the fact that real faces are processed holistically whereas
composites are constructed featurally (Carlson, Gronlund, Weatherford and Carlson, 2012).
There are two versions available to the general public: (a) Educational (used primarily by
students) and (b) Law Enforcement (the version used by police). Both types allow for
construction of a large number of possible faces based on the number of features available,
but the Law Enforcement version has more than double the number of available features
(4400 versus 2000). In addition, the Law Enforcement version has additional capabilities,
such as generating a unique Biometric Alphanumeric Code for each completed face. This
code contains a digital representation of the particular features combined in a given
composite, which can be useful as a means of conveying the information between police
departments. This allows for the exact same composite to be recreated conveniently in
another jurisdiction (although the composite can be easily conveyed as an image).
The process of face construction proceeds in the same way regardless of the version of
program used. The features are available in isolation from the others, accessible on the right
side of the screen, and a blank canvas is presented in the centre for facial construction (see
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Figure 1). The practitioner is encouraged to first construct an approximation of the target’s
face based on the modal description provided by eyewitnesses. Then this image can be
presented to each witness for further specification. The recommendation for the practitioner
is to start with the chin shape, followed by the head shape, then after the remaining internal
and external features have been added, to go back and adjust chin and head shape if
necessary. As each feature is chosen from the right, the program blends it in with the rest of
the composite on the centre canvas to create a reasonable approximation of a photo-quality
facial image (see Figure 1). The witness is encouraged to focus first on the eyes and
eyebrows, as these features will serve as an anchor for the rest of the face. The eyes are the
only features that are fixed vertically, but inter-ocular distance (between the eyes) can be
adjusted as needed. And the Control Area (between composite and Selection Display; see
Figure 1) can be used to adjust size and position of any feature. It also provides three levels
of shading (light, medium, dark) for hair, including facial hair. There are six levels of skin
tone, from very light to very dark. In addition to the default features, the system includes
Latin, African-American, and Asian components (www.facesid.com/products_faces_le.html).
Finally, distinctive features such as scars, moles, tattoos, and facial hair can be added at any
point during the process, though it is recommended to wait until toward the end of the
process, as these feature(s) could distract the witness from describing the core elements (e.g.,
nose shape, mouth shape) that create a complete face. Outside of these recommendations, the
general procedure for PRO-fit can be usefully applied to FACES 4.0, as the two programs are
largely comparable. For example, once the composite is initially constructed, features are
changed within the context of the complete face in the central canvas.
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Figure 1. A composite from FACES 4.0 (Law Enforcement version) generated from a random
selection of the 4400 features available across the various categories (e.g., head shape, eyes, nose)
available in the Selection Display right.
References
Carlson, C.A., Gronlund, S.D., Weatherford, D.R. and Carlson, M.A. (2012), “Processing
differences between feature-based facial composites and photos of real faces”, Applied
Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 26, pp. 525-540.
FACES 4.0 by IQ Biometrix, computer software 2003. Available from:
http://www.iqbiometrix.com/products_faces_40.html. [18 November 2014]
FACES Criminal Investigation Software 2014, Ethnic Components. Available from:
http://www.facesid.com/products_faces_le.html. [18 November 2014].
McQuiston-Surrett, D., Topp, L.D., and Malpass, R.S. (2006), “Use of facial composite
systems in US law enforcement agencies”, Psychology, Crime, & Law, Vol. 12, pp. 505–517.
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