The Technology of Facial Recognition

by Andrea Campbell

Television and movies are famous for zeroing in on the technologies of the present and future. Some are outrageous such as the vertical mid-air computer manipulation screens and the holograms used for facial reconstruction--fascinating but most cities’ law enforcement and forensic science divisions are cash-strapped, so fantasy is more the reality. There is one thing though that criminal justice has been good at, and that’s compiling information, mainly data in regards to identification.

The History of Identification

In 1924, the Criminal Justice Information Services created an FBI Identification division that began with the collection of fingerprints. Prior to that, things were fairly unsophisticated and rather chaotic in terms of holes--states were responsible for their own mug shots and fingerprint collections and since information was collected manually, if a perpetrator crossed state lines, his slate was temporarily clean. The need for centralization and an organized repository wasn’t really met until as late as 1999. Instead of mug shots, photographs and criminal history traveling through the U.S. mail and processed manually, the IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint System), system improved all that. Now with the launch of IAFIS, it made it easy to search, process and store data electronically. Wherever a suspect went, his identification could follow.

The New Generation

With the advent of a growing demand for identification services, the FBI stepped up its criminal justice data system with its new Next Generation Identification or NGI program. Previously, the technology infrastructure was fast becoming obsolete. Just as you have to stay current with upgrading your computer software and equipment--with all the identification requests the FBI receives, they were struggling to fulfill their mission. So while NGI attempts to shore up its reputation, staying a global leader in biometrics is a feat. Because biometric submissions come from tribal, local, state, federal, international and other intelligence systems, the rapidly expanding database is a race--and the timeline for upgrade was posed as a multi-year time frame developed with incremental phases (or one step at a time).

Our Identification Rights

Generally what happens as new technologies evolve, its development has a tendency to stop on people’s rights, that is to say, their right to privacy, searches or just by being required to submit to varied forms of ID.

There are federal codes however, that provide much-needed authorization for such information and it can be found in U.S. Code, number 28 to be more precise, and it outlines how to acquire, collect, classify and preserve such identification and crime records. The exchange of this data between agencies must follow guidelines set out in section 534 of the same code, and section 3771 outlines the authorization for the FBI director to develop new approaches, techniques and devices.

Several of the program increments for the NGI platform have been completed like: increasing the true match rate of fingerprints to 99.6 percent and providing the ability to process less than ten prints as well. Another program named RISC (or the: Repository for Individual of Special Concern) was also completed that helps to ID wanted persons, suspected terrorists, persons of special interest and sex offenders. A National Palm Print directory is on the agenda for next spring, 2013, and Increment 4 called Rap Back, Facial and Scars, Marks and Tattoo search capabilities should be up and running summer 2014. The National Rap Back service is all about notifying searchers about folks who are already in the criminal system, and will include Facial and SMT--Scars, Marks and Tattoo--designs for investigation purposes.

Next Generation for Facial Recognition

A pilot program debuted in 2012 for facial recognition, but should be fully operational summer of 2014. This will make possible image-based facial recognition searches of the FBI’s national repository. What comes back from a search will be a list of candidates to investigate. The bank of photos are based on criminal mug shots that were taken as a part of the booking process during arrest. The concerns have been that photos from other sources like Facebook, or surveillance cameras would be used but the FBI site says they will not use those as sources. Currently the National Repository holds approximately 12.8 million searchable frontal photos. The FBI claim that only authorized criminal justice agencies can query, and the requests are processed in what’s referred to as a, “lights out” manner, meaning that no one person prepares the ranked candidates list--it is constructed without human intervention.

A government act called the “Interstate Photo System Privacy Impact Assessment” (PIA) is in a renewable phase as any evolutionary changes that have since come into fruition will be reevaluated since June 2008. States that have already sampled the facial recognition as part of a pilot program will still need to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that reiterates why they need the information and how they intend to use it. The Facial Recognition pilot should be fully functional summer 2014.

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Courtroom Knife Wound Analysis Presents Challenges

by Andrea Campbell

In Urbana, Ohio, about 40 miles northwest of Columbus, a grisly murder took place in a rented duplex. Some dismembered remains of Jessica Rae Sacco were found in the shower. Gary Zerkle, the landlord, had been approached by Sacco’s mother who came looking for her 21-year old daughter after not hearing for too long. 

Zerkle took the key and went to check it out himself and once inside, encountered a locked bathroom door.

Jessica Rae Sacco

"I didn't think that was right," he said of the locked bathroom door. "Sometimes you get a gut feeling."

Reports say he removed the doorknob and pried open the door. It was the look behind the shower curtain that he wasn’t prepared for. "I pulled it back, and that was it," he said. "And I zoomed out the front door... I was trying to gasp for air."

Backstory

Police say that Sacco had moved to Urbana from California the year before. The duplex she shared with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Matthew Puccio rented for $360 a month. In the latter part of the year, Andrew and Kandis Forney, of Fenton, Michigan, began staying with them.

Allegedly, Puccio had killed Jessica Rae Sacco by placing a bag over her head and suffocating her. The Forneys and yet another couple, Christopher Wright and Sharon Cook, of Urbana, are accused of helping with her dismemberment. Reports from police say that some of her body parts were found miles away in Kentucky.

According to an article for the Huffington Post about the intent, “Police would not discuss a motive for the killing, which they believe occurred around March 22. Police allege the Forneys, Wright and Cook were in the apartment when Sacco was killed but failed to intervene. Police say Puccio and Andrew Forney moved Sacco's body to the bathtub and dismembered it.”

Left to right: Matthew Starr Puccio, 25
Andrew Peter Forney, 26 (helped with dismemberment)
Kandis Jenniene Forney, 25 (helped cover up) Christopher Wright, 37 (cover up)
Sharon Cook, 25 (cover up)

Follow-up form the police chief said that Sacco, took classes at a local college and had only been in Urbana about a year after she moved there from California. He said Puccio had only been in Urbana a few months. Both were unemployed.

While the evidence in this case has multiple witnesses and overwhelming physical clues because of the dismemberment, typically the science used to identify knife and saw mark wounds, and the examination and its interpretation in bone has received little more than a cursory consideration in the forensic science industry.

History of Saw Mark Analysis

In the 1970s two science researchers attempted to introduce the topic of saw marks and toolmark analysis in bone to make it more useful to the field of forensic science. Wolfgang Bonte was one of the first who made a concentrated effort to more closely examine and describe saw mark striae in human bone. His casework however suffered limitations in that he failed to understand and recognize saw cutting action. 

In 1978, another scientist, R.O.Andahl attempted to describe saw cut characteristics in metal and animal bone, but his work in medicolegal cases of human dismemberment pointed up the need to analyze these characteristics more fully as his examples were often too simple and less than accurate. There needed to be an improvement in understanding not only the different areas of toolmark characteristics but to have a standardized way to describe forensically the principles of tool action in a cut.

Present Case Studies

The problem with today’s analysis is that there are many differences between knife cut wounds and saw mark analyses on cut bone. The ability to accurately describe in a court of law the features involving dimensions, the elements depicting wounds, and how to discriminate between different classes of saws and knives is still a tricky element. There is no standardization, meaning, it does not have “forensic standing” as a element of crime—it cannot pass Daubert evidentiary standards—and therefore testimony in that regard is just one person’s opinion. Steven A. Symes, Ph.D is the first researcher to publish a doctoral dissertation on the topic of saw mark analyses of cut bone, completed in 1992. He worked on and aided over 200 dismemberment cases involving approximately 700 to 10000 knife cut wound cases. Symes sees the diagnostic potential of developing a methodology to describe the features of cut wounds but it has yet to be implemented fully.

Problematic Terminology

Symes believes that since knife wounds are second only to ballistic injuries as the major cause of violent death in America, the widespread use of meaningless and misleading descriptors such as "sharp", "single-edged blade" and “hesitation mark" (which erroneously implies behavior) are common and may result in serious misinterpretation by attorneys, judges and juries.

The sharp force trauma that appears as an incised wound can be completed with any tool that has a sharp edge. Most of the incised wounds are created by some class of knife and are recognized as sharp force trauma. Most wounds are commonly termed a “knife stab wound” (KSW). But the term KSW is often misused, particularly by anthropologists, since most wounds they examine are without soft tissue.

Incised knife cut wounds are often described as wounds to the bone but are not necessarily due to stabbing. A KCW in bone is indicated when a sharp edged tool superficially incises bone while traversing over the surface of the bone. Symes thinks that forensic students are taught stereotypical adages when it comes to terminology. The difficulties with testimony fall on the fact that, “anthropologists and pathologists conduct numerous saw and knife mark analyses on dry and fresh bone, most professionals are reluctant to examine this bone within the soft tissue." In an article entitled Knife and Saw Toolmark Analysis in Bone, “the reasons for this avoidance include, but are perhaps not limited to: 1) difficulties in examining and transporting decomposed tissues, 2) a lack of equipment or training to process the remains after soft tissue examination, and 3) a general avoidance, 4) a lack of interest in the soft tissues in general, or finally 5) it’s just too damn difficult. Unfortunately, the situation often applies to forensic anthropologists and occasionally to medical examiners and coroners.”

So while the Sacco case might not hinge on knife wound analysis and toolmark evidence, this area of forensic science needs to be further examined and documented for standardized testing and ultimately, courtroom testimony.

Resources:

Steven A. Symes, Ph.D. and Erin N. Chapman, M.S., et al. Knife and Saw Toolmark Analysis in Bone: A Manual Designed for theExamination of Criminal Mutilation and Dismemberment, December 2010

Rodriguez, Barbara. JessicaRae Sacco, Dismemberment: 5 Suspects Arrested In Horrific Ohio Slaying, April, 2, 2012

Taphonomy – Edged, Incised, Hacking, and Impaling Traumas (Caution, photographs may be disturbing) 

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Dying in Water: Clues for Foul Play

"They could be drowning."

by Andrea Campbell

I don’t know if you have ever had the conversation with someone about the worst way to die? Even though I am a swimmer, drowning and the panic associated with taking in water and then succumbing to drowning has been a fear of mine.

That’s why when I was reading about water-related death investigation, I became fascinated about this particular area of examination. Obviously the most common way of drowning would be in a submerged vehicle—a tactic Susan Smith used to kill her small children—then there is drowning in a pool, bath, hot tub or a river, and, yes, even a bucket.

A death investigator looks for certain sign posts that alert him to the possibility of foul play. While we talk about some of the clues the water investigator looks for, you will notice that many of the red-flag indicators are based on well-thought-out common sense ideas and principles. Investigator Kevin L. Erskine—who developed a Master Course in Water-Related Death for the Ohio Peace Officer’s Training Academy and a Children’s Ice Drowning Prevention Workshop—has the wherewithal and savvy to demonstrate just how interesting his discipline is. He has also remarked that if you recognize more than one of the potential indicators of foul play, it gives you the determination to look further than just accepting it as an “accidental” mishap.

Bath Tub or Hot Tub Drowning

Parents have been known to dunk their children as punishment and word from expert's has it, it’s widely practiced. On a child’s body, certainly signs of injury—fingerprint grip marks, or bruising on both sides of the neck could indicate a form of strangulation, while, other bruises showing up around the neck or behind the ears can indicate the assault of forced dunking.

Teerapun FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Other clues would be: the fact that parent’s or caretaker’s clothes are dry; water samples that contain vomit, mucus, soap or urine; inconsistent water temperature, meaning, too hot may be punishment by scalding, or, if the water tests cold or if the water has been mopped up—or wet towels are around—the perpetrator may have waited too long to call or tried to hide a water fight or struggle. Look too, for things missing: no toys, washcloths or soap? These items will usually support an actual claim of bathing.

Also, if during an interview, the parent claims he was distracted yet a sound barrier prevents anyone from hearing the doorbell, an investigator may have reason to look deeper than first believed. Of course, with an elderly person’s drowning, look for a new life insurance policy, severe or terminal illness or disease of the victim, or prior domestic-violence reports.

Submerged Vehicles

If you’ve been watching any fictional mysteries or detective shows lately, you will come across the body in the car scenario where the driver’s seat has been readjusted and couldn’t possibly fit the 5-foot tall victim. Erskine says too, to look at the vehicle’s gearshift—was it in neutral or drive? Is there anything weighing down the accelerator? There is a long checklist of clues to look for, but if there is a blow to the victim’s head and the car or truck is relatively undamaged, that may point to suspicious circumstances for sure.

As you are beginning to see, this can be a lengthy, interesting concept. For more than just casual reading, you might want to check out Erskine’s book with Erica J. Armstrong: Water-Related Death Investigation:Practical Methods and Forensic Applications, published by CRC Press.  http://www.crcpress.com

Source: Evidence Technology Magazine, May-June 2011.  http://www.evidencemagazine.com

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Handwriting Detective Weighs in on Casey Anthony's Script

Michelle Dresbold

 by Andrea Campbell

I am thrilled to have found guest editor: Michelle Dresbold. Michelle has been called the Sherlock Holmes of handwriting. For the past 15 years, she has been helping law enforcement agencies around the country put away the “bad guys.” 

A graduate of the training program, Michelle consults to private attorneys, police departments, and prosecutors throughout the United States. She is considered one of the top experts in the nation on handwriting identification, (including anonymous letters and suspected forgeries), personality profiling, and threat analysis. She has testified in a wide variety of cases including arson, embezzlement, voting fraud, forgery, stalking, and murder. 

Michelle has examined Casey’s Anthony's handwriting and offers insight into who Casey really is.

Casey Anthony

by Michelle Dresbold

I am a handwriting detective. As I explain in my book, Sex, Lies and Handwriting, my specialties range from handwriting identification, (including anonymous letters and suspected forgeries), to threat analysis, to personality profiling. I have testified in a wide variety of cases including arson, embezzlement, voting fraud, forgery, stalking, and murder.

The media have been inundated with news about the Casey Anthony case. The prosecutorss theory is that Anthony suffocated her daughter, Caylee, so she could be free to “live the good life.” Their case presented evidence that suggested Casey stuffed Caylee’s body in her car trunk and drove around for days before she dumped her daughter’s body in the woods near her parents' home.

Casey Anthony had originally claimed that on Monday, June 9, 2008, she left her 3-year-old daughter with nanny Zenaida Gonzalez. However, when she returned to the nanny’s Florida apartment, Caylee was missing. Casey didn’t notify the police, she said, because she did not want to worry her parents and wanted to do her own investigation. Casey’s mother, Cindy Anthony, however, became worried and five weeks after Casey had allegedly “lost” her daughter, Cindy Anthony reported her granddaughter’s disappearance to the police.

After a five-month nationwide search, Caylee’s remains were found by a meter reader. In his opening statement, defense attorney José Baez told jurors that Caylee had accidently drowned in the family’s swimming pool. He suggested that Casey’s bizarre attitude and lying was a result of her alleged sexual abuse by her father and her brother.

Recently, I reviewed documents released by prosecutors in the murder case, including jailhouse letters between Anthony and fellow inmates.  I’ve heard numerous theories about what Casey may have done and why. As I learned a long time ago, people can say whatever they want, but handwriting never lies.

As a handwriting profiler, I’m interested in what Casey's handwriting has to say.

What stands out the most to me in her handwriting is her “bubble gum” script. Bubble gum writers have letters that are almost uniformly the same height. The middle zone (the lower case letters a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x and the part of the other letters between the upper loops and the lower loops) of her writing is exaggerated. When the middle zone is overly large, like Casey’s, the writer has a tendency to be childlike and self-centered. These writers like to be the center of attention. It is difficult for them to delay gratification. What they see is what they want. Today. This minute. Right now!

Also, her individual letters and words have practically no space in between. This narrow spacing indicates that Casey will crowd others for attention and can take up the time and energy of those around hers. Cramped spacing is also an indicator that she sees things from a very narrow perspective as opposed to seeing the big picture.

The artistic side of the word “Cookie” shows that Casey has a creative side. However, the letters “oo” show where this creative side may be put to use. The letters “o” and “a” are the communication letters. Think of these letters as little mouths. When a writer’s a’s and o’s are open at the top, the writer likes to talk and will find it difficult to keep a secret. When they are completely closed at the top the writer can take a secret to the grave. Casey’s “o’s” in “Cookie” are quite interesting because even in the artistic version of her script she wrote the “o’s” with a slash through them? Slashes through a’s and o’s, known as “forked tongue strokes,” are signs of a liar.

Casey actually makes her “o’s” three different ways. One is the “o” with the forked tongue slash through it (as seen in the words “cookie” and “on”). The second is an extra loopy “o” (as seen in the second “o” in the word “cool”)–an indicator that she rationalizes her behavior. But the third way she makes her “o’s” may be the most telling of all. You know that the o’s and a’s that are tightly closed at the top mean that the writer is tight lipped and secretive. Casey not only closes her o at the top, she makes sure it is sealed tight by finishing it at the bottom. There is no way she could even leave a slight gap at the top. She is so secretive that she won’t even tell herself the truth. 

Besides the slashes, extra loopy loops, and her overly closed o’s, Casey does something else that indicates that she is good at telling whoppers. Her writing looks readable; however, if you take words out of context many are ambiguous or unreadable. Look at the word between “So I” and “have this Super cool pen” in the first line underneath the word “cookie”. Can you read it? See if you can read the words labeled “A”, “B”, “C” or “D”.  In context, I’m sure you could easily make them out. But, out of context, what are they? People who are expert at tricky writing are like magicians. They make you see what they want you to see. They leave the interpretation of events vague and unclear, so that they have an out when they need it.

Casey Anthony also uses ambiguous letters in her signature. Her first name is spelled “CASEY.” So, given the fact that Casey knows how to spell her own name, why does it look like “CAESY”? That, my friends, is ambiguous or “tricky” writing.

Look closer at the signature and you will notice that the “a” in Casey’s first name is blown out of proportion. When a lowercase “a” is extra large it indicates that the writer is very concerned about his or her physical appearance. And, if you look carefully, you will see that there is a sharp point inside of Casey’s “a.” That point is called a “stinger.” Writers with stingers tend to be extreme in their sexual lifestyles – they either abstain from sex entirely, or they become sexaholics.

Also, do you see that Casey made her last name into a great big “X”? When a writer’s signature or personal pronoun “I” turns into an “X,” it shows that the writer feels as if his or her life has been ruined. These sad “x’ed-out” people worry and fantasize about death. Sometimes these gloomy thoughts are about other people’s deaths and sometimes these morbid feelings about the writer’s own demise.

Many people have asked if Casey's writing shows that she has been abused. It’s hard to say for sure if a person has been abused. However, she does have a number of signs that suggest she has major trust issues, including, but not limited to, the letter “c” in the word “cool.” The letter “c” is the trust letter. The more the letter “c” is closed the more the writer is closed off and less she can trust. Notice that Casey’s “c” is almost completely closed. Her narrow, compressed spacing also stems from insecurity and fear. And, of course, the extreme secretiveness that we saw in the letter o shows, that like many people of abuse, they feel it is imperative to never let their “secret” out.

If you’d like to learn more about what you can tell from deciphering handwriting or to read my communication analysis of Casey Anthony’s statement to the police, please check out my website: michelledresbold.com.

About Michell's Book:

She is the author of Sex, Lies, and Handwriting, published by Simon and Schuster’s Free Press, and writes a weekly syndicated column, "The Handwriting Doctor," which appears in newspapers throughout the US. Michelle is also an accomplished artist who has shown her work in galleries and museums across the country. 

She has been featured on the "CBS Early Show," the "Today Show," the "FOX Morning Show with Mike and Juliette," the "O’Reilly Factor," FOX News, The History Channel and The ID Channel. 

Her press includes: Pittsburgh Magazine, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Philadelphia Magazine, The Washington Post, MarieClaire Magazine, Martha Stewart’s Blueprint Magazine, Woman’s World magazine, Psychology Today, and The Ladies Home Journal. 

Michelle graduated with honors from the University of Michigan with a degree in fine arts and psychology.

For more write to: info@michelledresbold.com

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Sometimes It’s the Little Things: The Titterton Case

by Andrea Campbell

The Titterton case is interesting for several reasons. One, it took place in 1936 New York and demonstrates the abilities of forensic science and the tenacity of law enforcement at that time; and although the mystery had its twists and turns, it was a little thing that paid off.

The Victim

This case is about a fairly wealthy woman named Nancy Titterton. Ms. Titteron, 33 at the time, was an author of great promise. Her husband, Lewis Titterton, was an executive at the National Broadcasting Company and they lived at Beekman Place, a neighborhood comprised of New York artists and intellectuals. A devoted couple, they were married for seven years and part of a small circle of friends who were also interested in the arts—but Nancy had a propensity for shyness, so they were circumspect about socializing.

The Crime Scene

When police found Nancy Titterton, she was lying face down in an empty bath, naked except for a pair of silk stockings and her pajama top was knotted around her throat. There had been a sexual attack and ripped underclothes littered the floor. Two furniture men—Theodore Kruger and Johnny Fiorenza—who were delivering a renovated love seat, found the front door of the apartment open at four o’clock on Good Friday afternoon.

It was determined she had opened the door to her killer and let him into the apartment, an important clue. This baffling, fairly high-profile case would show the muster of police on follow-thru and demonstrate a pretty impressive arsenal of scientific and forensic aids. You have to remember that this was predicated by the famous Edmond Locard, a great criminologist who is known for an important forensic principle: ‘Every contact leaves a trace,’ meaning, the criminal leaves something of himself at the crime scene and also takes something away with him. The investigators were using silver nitrate to raise fingerprints on fabric, studying fibers under a microscope, and conducting blood groupings from seminal fluid in this era.

Assistant Chief Inspector John A. Lyons surveyed the crime scene and was hopeful of finding evidence. And one thing came to light immediately. When they lifted Nancy Titterton’s body from the tub, a 13-inch cord that had been cut with a sharp knife was discovered. The victim also had abrasions on her wrists indicating that her hands were bound before she was raped. The perpetrator, thinking he was smart, had cut her hands free when she lay face downward in the bath, and took the cord with him. In his haste however, he overlooked a short piece that had slipped under the body. Lyons set his men to checking every manufacturer in the immediate New York area for the source.

Other Potential Clues

There was mud on the carpet mixed with lint, but it was thought to have been brought into the apartment by the two delivery men. A small dash of green paint appeared on the bedding but the building was in the process of being painted, and a check of the painters lead nowhere—they were all cleared. A audio clue came from the maid downstairs who claimed she heard a woman’s voice call: ‘Dudley, oh Dudley!’ The building janitor was named Dudley Mings and although police could not verify an alibi, his apartment was searched and he was revealed to be a man of good character.

The Scenario

The cord search was labored but they did build a kind of scenario: The killer entered 22 Beekman Place through the front door, either by ringing the bell or manipulating a defective lock. They believed he was known to the victim. He clamped a hand over her mouth and jammed it with a piece of cloth. He tied her hands with the rope he brought with him, and carried her to the bedroom where he removed her blouse and skirt, threw her down on the bed and tore off her brassiere and panties. Then the attack. After the rape, he knotted a pajama jacket around her throat (and a red blouse), took her into the bathroom, cut the cord from her wrists and turned on the shower. He hurried out, leaving the door open behind him.

This was a planned crime as he had brought materials with him. He wiped his fingerprints off the knife used to cut things, and the police thought he must have blocked her breathing with fabric and used the shower to revive her. They suspected he was a spurned lover or someone who had an emotional interest, but queries with Nancy’s friends indicated she was not the type to engage in an affair. 

The Break

The break in the case came from the crime laboratory. The toxicologist, Dr. Alexander O. Gettler, found a piece of white hair on the bedclothes. It was less than a half inch long, stiffer than human hair, and when viewed under a microscope revealed it was horsehair, the type used to stuff furniture. In fact, it matched the love seat, delivered on the day of the murder. Lyons liked the furniture men for an interview at the very least. Both claimed to have not entered the bedroom. And since they had been together in the apartment until the police arrived, police surmised that one of them must have come to the apartment earlier in the day. It was found that Kruger had been in his upholstery shop, and he noted for police that his assistant was out until after lunch because he had to report to his parole officer in the morning. But Kruger stood by the young man's side and claimed Fiorenza had turned over a new leaf—his crime was basically taking a car—and he claimed that he was a good boy. Lyons wasn’t so sure.

Fiorenza Rap Sheet

Fiorenza’s record was checked: four times for theft, two years in Elmira for stealing, and a psychiatrist there had reported him an "emotional fellow." Also, Fiorenza had also been to Titterton’s apartment two previous times, and even though each time he visited it was with his employer, Nancy would have known and trusted him.

The Key

Finally, the results of the canvassing for the cord information came in. It was discovered to be a piece of venetian blind cord manufactured by Hanover Cordage and the wholesaler sold a roll to Theodore Kruger’s upholstery shop! When Fiorenza was confronted with the evidence, he confessed. He admitted to having become infatuated with the attractive authoress and he thought he needed to possess her. You know the result.

The jury arrived at a guilty verdict fairly fast and Johnny Fiorenza went to the electric chair in Sing Sing. Betrayed by a horsehair.

Photo's From Flickr Authors: New York Public Library; xavi talleda; Old Shoe Woman

See an original newsreel here.  

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Another Eye Witness: In-Car Cameras

by Andrea Campbell

Signaling for a car to pull over. A car with strangers. Stopping a car. Approaching a strange car. Not knowing who or what you will encounter, a routine stop—maybe not. It sends chills down my spine. Does the officer’s heart beat just that much faster as he approaches a car on foot? 

On May 20, 2010, police officer Bill Evans (pictured above left) stopped a white van with Ohio license plates at 11:36 a.m. on I-40 in West Memphis. Soon after, Office Brandon Paudert (pictured below right), the police chief’s son, joined him at the stop on an off-ramp—mile marker 275—near College Boulevard. Both Evans, 38, and Paudert, 39, were members of a criminal interdiction team, which stops cars in a city where two interstates meet. “There are lots of drug dealers and criminal elements passing through that city," said Oakland Police Chief Rick Jewell, a former assistant chief in West Memphis. "There's a lot of drugs and a lot of money.” Word has it that drug interdiction is dangerous business. 

Deadly Stop
A few minutes later, one of the two suspects wrestled Evans to the ground. A gunshot from an AK-47 followed and both officers went down. The suspects sped away. Chief Paudert arrived on the scene to find his son, a seven-year veteran with the West Memphis force, shot in the head and the neck, lying dead on the pavement with his service weapon in hand. Evans was airlifted to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis but died of gunshot wounds. 

More Chaos
A manhunt ensued and 90 minutes or so later, the white minivan was spotted at a local Walmart. Lots of gunfire was exchanged, leaving Crittenden County Sheriff Dick Busby shot in the arm and his chief deputy, W.A. Wren, shot in the abdomen. The suspects, identified as Jerry Kane, 45, and his son Joseph, 16, were both killed.  An overhead video of the Walmart parking lot shootout is on YouTube. 

But another important piece of evidence, an eyewitness, is a dash cam video shot from a police SUV that shows the Kane teenager firing an AK-47 before exiting with his father. 

Mobile Video
According to the January issue of Evidence Technology Magazine, the significance of video as evidence during police murder investigations has played out multiple times across the United States. Tampa, Florida also saw Officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab murdered during a traffic stop. Apparently, Kocab’s video system recorded the events leading up to the killing—an audio version as well of the killer, a woman in his company, which led to identification information.

In a recent survey of police agencies nationwide, 94 percent of respondents said they feel that, “Mobile video recording is a technology that is here to stay.”

On-duty Deaths
In 2010, 61 officers were murdered by gunfire and on-duty deaths were up last year by 26 percent—that’s high. This year, the statistics are getting off to a worse start as 11 officers were shot in a single 24-hour period in January. 

More Bad News
Even though an increasing number of officer deaths have been caught on dashboard cameras, several problems exist. To begin, many times the images are dicey. Sometimes the identification ratio is nonexistent. Alan Slamon, President of the Law Enforcement & Emergency Services Association (LEVA), which trains police analysts, claims that it is an uphill battle because there are no regulation standards for operation, format or storage, rendering many systems difficult if not impossible to analyze. 

And under the present economic downturn and restraints, when cities are laying off policemen, they cannot afford to train or maintain upkeep of a video-management system. There are only fifteen vendors offering in-car video police recording systems where originally 40 firms existed six years ago.

On a brighter note, the National Institute of Justice is working on rectifying the standards by supplying a selection and application guide for law enforcement agencies.

Body-Worn Cameras
One other option that is pretty cool is the body-worn camera system. Post Falls, Idaho police department uses both the in-car camera and the body type. Police Chief Scot Haug estimates that his officers spend less time in court and the department gets fewer complaints from the public because the recorder catches such a perfect record. The body-worn system is produced by VieVu, a Seattle, Washington, company and sells for around $750. When motor officers need to leave their vehicles it gives a whole new perspective. 

In Memory Of

Robert Brandon Paudert, a sergeant, is the son of the West Memphis Chief of Police and is survived by his wife and three children.

Officer Thomas William (Bill) Evans was a nine-year veteran of the department, a was a member of the Drug Interdiction Unit, and the nephew of the West Memphis Chief of Police. He is survived by his two children.

Memorial photos courtesy of The Officer Down Memorial Page and Police Special site.

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What’s in a Face? Biometrics and Facial Identification

by Andrea Campbell 

We've all seen facial biometrics in the movies where a security camera picks out a terrorist subject or supposed perpetrator, reads their face and maps out a facial recognition identifier for law enforcement. It’s really flashy, cool and fast. Does it work that way? Well, yes and no. Let’s start at the beginning. 

Security and Biometrics

In the past, security measures have used a card, a token or key to get into closed doors. Other methods involve a password, code or something you must type in, like a series of numbers. The goal for biometrics is heightened security; meaning, it involves the identity of an actual person to gain entry. The word biometrics means it is some physical characteristic, or personal trait used to trigger an automatic recognition. We already use biometrics with fingerprints, a written signature, voice recognition or a retinal scan. Other lesser-used body differentials are someone’s gait, their ears, hand or finger geometry, or even their odor.


Several Keys

The key to biometrics' usefulness is that the characteristic must be measurable, and once presented to a sensor, can be converted into a quantifiable digital format. It is only good if it can be automated down to a number of seconds for retrieval. A system is called robust, if it can read traits that are subject to change. For example, the iris of the eye won’t change significantly over time, and it is more robust than someone’s voice. Plus, the more distinctive the identifier is, the better. A retinal scan would be more distinctive than hand or finger geometry.

Biometrics needs to perform two functions: identify and verify. In order to satisfy an identification it must work against records in a database, which it can search through for results, such as mugshots that are used by police. This comparison is called a "one to many" search and presents a best match result. Verification, on the other hand, is a system that relies on input from the user, generally via the password or another form of identity. This would be a "one to one" search, such as would be done with a computer allowing someone access using a private code. 

Did You Know? 


The police in Tampa Bay, Florida, used Indentix’s facial recognition software to screen at Super Bowl XXXV in January 2001. The search was for potential terrorists and criminals in attendance. The results? The system found 19 people with pending arrest warrants. Facial recognition is often able to operate with the used of surveillance cameras or closed circuit television (CCTV).

(Photo Courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation) 

How Does It Work?

Facial recognition can be used to locate criminals, terrorists or missing children by using a five-step methodology. First, the image must be captured. This can be accomplished by scanning a photograph or using a camera to acquire a live picture of a subject. Fast moving video can also be turned into still shots. Next the software program seeks to detect the location of any faces in the acquired image, and it looks for two eyes and a mouth set into an oval shape. Once a face has been targeted, it is analyzed using spatial geometry. There are different methods available depending on the software, but this it is commonly referred to as the eigenface method. The system has templates that generate unique features for comparisons. That is to say, algorithms identify faces by extracting the landmarks of someone’s face and using the relative position, size and shape of eyes, nose, cheekbones and jaw. In other words, it measures the distance between the eyes, the depth of eye sockets, the shape of cheekbones, etc., but it actually ignores facial hair or hairstyles. These are then compared to a database of known faces, and finally, the scores are looked at by the end user for a determination. 

Better Than People


The software algorithms are generally better than people estimations. People are very good at recognizing people they know from surveillance film. With unfamiliar faces, however, not so good. The reasons for this are believed to be that people just aren’t good at it and they have a short attention span. To test this point, a British study used trained supermarket cashiers to screen shoppers. The shoppers were of four types. One had a shopping card with a recent photo, another had a card with modifications to their photo such as a minor hairstyle change or the addition of glasses. A third shopper’s card was issued that was actually of a different person who resembled them somewhat, and, finally, a shopper was issued a card where the only similar characteristic was the same sex and race as the shopper.

When the various cards were presented to the checkout clerks, more than half of the fraudulent cards were accepted. The breakdown was as follows. 34 percent of the cards that did not look like the shopper were accepted, 14 percent of the cards where the appearance had been altered were accepted, and 7 percent of the unchanged cards were rejected by the clerks. Time plays a factor too, as a human being's ability to detect critical signals drops rapidly after the start of a task, so that within 35 minutes their focus to task drops significantly. 

Current Uses 


A London borough uses a CCTV system, German Federal Police use it at a fully automated border station at an airport, Australia also has a system called SmartGate, and casinos and United States law enforcement agencies employ systems. It’s also been used at highly publicized trials, and to ensure fair counts for elections in Mexico.

The IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) has an Interstate Photo File of 9,695,672 photos for over 5,629,772 records. The U.S. Department of State operates one of the largest face recognition systems in the world with more than 75 million photographs, and it is actively used for visa processing.

Results Are Weaker


The results of biometric facial recognition are still weaker and less efficient than the other methods, but police like it because it doesn’t require aid or consent from the test subject, and it can be installed in public places. 

Faces Are Public 


How do you feel about having your image captured, however? There is some controversy, but the privacy issue raised here is not protected by the U.S. Constitution. Under current law, the type of facial recognition used by law enforcement to monitor public places is legal because according to the United States Supreme Court, a person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy because the physical characteristics used, such as one’s facial characteristics, voice, and handwriting, are constantly exposed to the public. 

New Technology 

A newly emerging trend, claimed to achieve previously unseen accuracies, is three-dimensional face recognition. This technique uses 3-D sensors to capture information about the shape of a face. You may also see technology developed as a security measure at ATMs, where a webcam image would be compared to a photo card.

When Madeleine McCann disappeared at Praia de Luz in Portugal, the British police asked visitors at the Ocean Club Resort to provide any photographs they may have taken in an attempt to identify the abductor of the missing child as part of the investigation, as some modern cameras have a focus and measure component.

Hey, even Facebook has a program that identifies faces in photos and allows you to tag other people you may know. I’m just saying, it’s going to be everywhere. 


Other Resource:

Bonsor, Kevin, and Ryan Johnson.  "How Facial Recognition Systems Work"  HowStuffWorks, January 2011.

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Dying Bird and Fish Mystery in Arkansas: Solved

by Andrea Campbell

It reads like some kind of horror film, reports of 3,000 (to 5,000) birds mysteriously falling out of the air and dropping dead in Beebe, Arkansas, before midnight on New Year’s Eve. The birds were said to be littering a 1.5-square-mile area, landing on homes, cars and lawns. And then 100,000 dead drum fish are found floating and washing up on the Arkansas River banks near Ozark. It’s some kind of staging for a movie right?

No Film Trickery

Unfortunately, this is not in preparation for a movie, and the residents near the river are being advised by authorities not to eat the dead fish. Uh, yeah, okay—who was even thinking that?

Here we are, welcoming in the new year when thousands of red-wing blackbirds take a dive from the sky in Beebe, and then more than 100 miles away the fish are belly up along a 20-mile stretch. But the Arkansas Game & Fish authorities claimed the deaths weren’t related.

Bebee Residents Sing Bye-Bye Blackbird

Over the holiday weekend, crews arrived suited up in their protective

gear wearing gas masks and gloves, picking up the carcasses. Apparently, blackbird roosts in Beebe are a nuisance because of ankle-to-knee-deep bird droppings in some areas, so the residents aren’t keen on their habits. Ten years ago, wildlife officials lobbed blanks from both shotguns and  a cannon to disturb a roost of thousands, but the black-winged birds decided to come home again.

Scary Elsewhere Too

Arkansas is not the only state getting the same weird vibe. Two million dead fish were found in Maryland along the Chesapeake Bay. They were identified as adult spot and juvenile croakers. Environmental officials there claim the bay area temperatures were colder than usual and, although this fish kill was large, it’s not the biggest; 15 million succumbed to “cold water stress” in 1976.

Louisiana birds took some headlines, too, when 500 of their birds decorated a quarter-mile stretch of highway in Pointe Coupee Parish, close to Baton Rouge. The dead there were identified as starlings and more red-winged blackbirds. It’s not looking good for the ed-winged blackbird, I guess. Biologists there are sending the carcasses off to laboratories in Wisconsin and Georgia for testing. In 1999, an estimated 3,000 birds hit the ground in northern Louisiana in a place called Morehouse Parish. It was discovered that those birds died from an E. coli infection located in the air sacs in their skulls.

Not Scary?

No one really sounds alarmed, and scientists say that large numbers of bird deaths are not uncommon. I know that makes us all feel better, right? A website set up by the U.S. Geological Service has a map that shows mass deaths of birds and other wildlife from June through December. Five of the sites list deaths of at least 1,000 birds and many others count as high as 500.

Authority Comments

Some comments from Arkansas officials are that the birds may have been hit by lightning or were stressed out by fireworks displays. Now the fish story is more problematic, as they say that fish kills this size are rare. Many of the fish have been sent to the University of Arkansas for examination and testing. The associate director of the University’s Aquaculture and Fisheries Center was quoted as saying, "It's your classic boom and bust. A group of fish will go into a population boom, and then they're competing for food, so they may not be in really good condition. Then during a cold snap the environment changes with the temperature, and their immune systems are compromised and can't always fight infection." He temporarily ruled out a pollutant because only the drum fish were affected. Keith Stephens of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission told CNN he agreed and that “… if it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish."

Interesting Factoids

There have been some interesting comments batted around over this event, and one comes from Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. She said birds often become confused and just drop to earth. It seems that blackbirds have poor eyesight, and if they get startled, they fly into the ground.

Fireworks, Poison, Bad Weather, What?

After all the supposition, it appears now that the birds succumbed to a thunderstorm aftermath. After being ripped from their nighttime roosts, they got waterlogged and died from exposure. A tornado blew through the state and killed three people in Cincinnati, Arkansas, so experts think it may have been related. It seems birds get knocked around from lightning, hail and storm updrafts often enough.

The most recent testing results, released Wednesday by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, show that red-winged blackbirds died from blunt force trauma on New Year's Eve. The report supports preliminary findings from the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission released Monday.

As far as the fish, well, disease is the cause. An unnamed state official said that it’s not unusual. Since there is no further data on that, I am suggesting that no one around there order fish for dinner.

Bird photo courtesy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEPHEN B. THORNTON.

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