Posted on 01/28/2009 3:36:38 PM PST by BBell
Late on the night of Jan. 18, just 24 hours after the murder of Wendy Byrne in the French Quarter, New Orleans police released a pair of computerized composite sketches of two teenagers suspected in the crime.
In one, a doe-eyed youth with a buzz cut and pointy ears peers out from the page. The other features a teen with twists in his hair that fall to the tops of his ears.
When the teens' mothers turned their sons over to New Orleans police detectives days later, police leaders heralded the "incredible" accuracy of the composites, saying one mother recognized her son from the publicized sketch and called police.
The episode seemed to underscore the utility of composite sketches as a crime-fighting tool. After all, police said they had few leads beyond the drawings, and yet they still made arrests.
But despite such success stories, the use and accuracy of such sketches, dating back many years, remains a hotly debated topic in the law enforcement community.
Several studies have shown sketches are unreliable when it comes to identifying suspects, and many academics have decried their use. But most police departments, including New Orleans', still see them as a valuable tool. And in some instances, such as the Byrne shooting, the portraits seem to work.
NOPD Deputy Chief Kirk Bouyelas is a believer. On Monday, he acknowledged that sketches aren't perfect, but said they are helpful nonetheless.
"It's not the be-all, end-all," Bouyelas said. "But some of these cases would never be solved if it wasn't for these composites."
--- Sketching a memory ---
The New Orleans Police Department's use of composite sketches has evolved over the years from a pen-and-pencil drawing to a sophisticated computer program that shades and stretches and tweaks features to reflect
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Friends and supporters of Wendy Byrne gather at the corner of Gov. Nichols Dauphine Streets Tuesday, January 27, 2009 in the French Quarter where was killed by teenagers. The group met for a vigil, memorial and a second of silence for every person murdered in New Orleans since Katrina.
Notice anything different about the crowd?
I’m not sure about the lady toward the viewer’s right, in front of the gap between the buildings (head bowed). Give her another look.
White Chocolate!
I’ve adjusted and cleaned my bifocals..I don’t see anything strange..whatcha talkin bout willis??
That's what I was thinking too.
What’s up? This picture shows me nothing out of the ordinary.
Good for her!
Anyone seen the sketches?
So many online newspaper articles that demand pictures don’t have them. Are they that cheapo on bandwidth?
The sketches are in the local paper but I can’t find them on their on line site. I’ll try again.
The top two are the computer generated sketches. The bottom is a picture of the perps.
I got it by sheer luck. Here is the link:
http://comment-blog.advance.net/cgi-bin/mte/mt-search.cgi?tag=Wendy%20Byrne&blog_id=2986
http://www.pcworld.com/article/141567/lost_laptop_exposes_nashville_voters_to_identity_theft.html
We all have power. Just use it.
List of US Attorneys Offices for information regarding crimes committed during the 2008 Election;
http://defendourfreedoms.org/usattorneys.html
http://drorly.blogspot.com/2009/01/us-attorneys-offices-for-you-to-visit.html
Hasn’t a third person been arrested, a 14 year old? I thought I read there had been and that his mother turned him in too.
How do people do that? I don’t know that I could remember the face of someone involved in a crime with that detail. Especially if it was against me.
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