Giving Crime the 'evo': Catching Criminals Using EvoFIT Facial Composites

Abstract

Facial composites are traditionally made by witnesses and victims describing and selecting parts of criminals' faces, but this method is hard to do and has been shown to be generally ineffective. We have been working on an alternative system called EvoFIT for the past 12 years. Much of the development for this system has been carried out in the laboratory but, more recently, police forces have been formally evaluating it in criminal investigations. The current paper describes three of these police audits. It was found that EvoFIT composites made from real eyewitnesses led to an overall arrest in 23.4% of cases, which is similar to a 24.5% correct naming level found by laboratory research. System performance therefore appears to be effective both using simulated testing procedures and in the hands of the intended user.