Composites help in criminal arrests
Published Sept. 29, 2006
Composites are usually made after major crimes, including several robberies that recently occurred in the Columbia area.
"We do a composite if the investigator feels that the victim or witness would be able to assist in describing a suspect well enough for composite," Columbia police Sgt. Ken Hammond said.
The Columbia Police Department has one composite artist on staff, detective Jeff Nichols.
"I provide the witnesses with a facial catalog, and they look through the catalog until they see something they recognize," Nichols said.
Then, Nichols said, he adds the identified feature to the sketch and allows the witness to see if it fits his or her memory of the person.
"The best-case scenario is if someone has a very unique feature, like being bald with a braided ponytail on the side of the head," Nichols said. "Any of us could get that right even if we didn't remember anything else."
Nichols said the accuracy of what an individual remembers is, in part, attributed to trauma and the element of fear.
"You're never going to get a portrait," Nichols said. "The composite depends on what people saw, the features they saw and the ability to recall within a relatively close degree of accuracy."