Cold cases and serial crimes are law enforcement’s most challenging investigations. Predatory criminals, who are intelligent and cunning, often perpetrate these crimes. In most cases, they carefully plan and execute their crimes to ensure they leave little evidence and even fewer eyewitnesses.
In cases with a surviving eyewitness, a facial composite of the suspect becomes your best evidence. Investigations that languish for years may benefit by advancing the age of your existing sketch. An updated composite sketch freshens up your case and generates media interest.
While time may be the enemy of eyewitness memory, it’s important to remember that some people can describe an assailant months, if not years later, underscoring the eyewitnesses’ crucial role in your investigation.
Other investigations where our expertise can be helpful include:
- Missing Persons & Fugitives
- Human Trafficking
- Identification of Unknown or Skeletal Remains
- Facial Comparison & Analysis
At SketchCop®, we understand the value and importance of having strong communication skills to guide your eyewitness through the interview to help us construct an effective composite sketch.
Our experience in homicide and violent crime investigations makes us uniquely qualified and valuable as case consultants, advising on which type of forensic facial imaging would be most helpful to your case.
We have listed our expert services below to help you with your investigation.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
SketchCop® REMOTE is an online global service connecting investigators with (Ret.) Police Sergeant Michael W. Streed, Forensic Facial Imaging Expert/Consultant and founder of SketchCop® Solutions, Inc.
Michael is one of the world’s most experienced forensic facial imaging experts. During his distinguished career, he’s gained considerable experience and a reliable reputation for assisting law enforcement with their most difficult cases.
Now, Michael’s ready to go live with your eyewitness and create a compelling sketch that will help bring your case to a successful conclusion.
Michael uses ZOOM to connect with you 24/7. He conducts interviews in a virtual space and delivers high-quality facial composites that grab the public’s attention and generate leads.
Like our SketchCop® Facial Composite System Software, SketchCop® REMOTE helps significantly reduce investigative cycle times.
Interested law enforcement agencies may also request our Self-Guided Interview for Facial Composites. We strongly encourage investigators to use the guide to help eyewitnesses capture details of a suspect’s face soon after they commit a crime. Michael will use the information to create a more effective facial composite for their investigation.
SketchCop® REMOTE stands out with its unique feature that allows eyewitnesses to participate from the comfort and safety of their home or office. This not only ensures their convenience but also enables investigators to focus more time and energy on their investigation.
With SketchCop® REMOTE, scheduling police sketch artist appointments that were once difficult is now effortless. These appointments are available in ‘real time’ online, often allowing for same-day interviews and prompt delivery of sketches via e-mail upon completion.
If you’re interested in scheduling a facial composite interview, we encourage you to review the system requirements before requesting your appointment. This will ensure a smooth process and avoid any potential issues.
Once completed, use the Contact form on the right to book your appointment. You can also download our Sketch Request form using the button below. Once completed, save it and send it to us.
SketchCop Solutions processes and analyzes video files for criminal justice and legal professionals using Axon Investigate and ProHawk Vision video analysis software.
Having video evidence available for review during criminal investigations was once rare. Today, it’s more common and consistently relied upon.
Though forensic video doesn’t tell the whole story, it adds context and clarity for those charged with making decisions in the criminal justice system.
With the advancement of technology, video evidence is no longer just a record. Cameras, strategically placed in public areas and private businesses, are transforming into powerful storytellers. This evolution is a testament to the increasing value of video evidence in seeking justice and accountability.
Postmortem forensic facial imaging refers to approximating the appearance of an unidentified deceased person to how they might have appeared when alive. Two postmortem facial imaging techniques, facial approximation, commonly referred to as facial reconstruction, and postmortem imaging, are the most widely used. When combined with DNA phenotyping it becomes an even more powerful tool.
Michael W. Streed and his team of experts blend traditional illustration techniques with the latest photo-editing, 3-D sculpting software, and AI technology. (Geomagic Freeform Plus, Zbrush, Cinema4D, Adobe® Photoshop, Corel® Painter and Stable Diffusion).
Using information supplied by medical experts and scientists, we can approximate a person’s facial appearance in both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional formats as described above.
Michael recognizes that each agency has budgetary restrictions that limit its ability to use postmortem forensic facial imaging during investigations. If you have questions, Michael can help you choose your best option.
Please note that museums and historical societies may also use facial approximation and facial photo restoration techniques to depict the faces of historical figures and ancient people in planned exhibits.
If you want to learn more or hire us for your next project,
Craniofacial superimposition is a valuable and accurate facial identification method in the absence of comparison-quality dentition/X-rays or DNA profiles.
Skeleton ID, is designed for efficiency. It uses the skull face overlay module to automatically overlay the 3D skull with the facial photograph(s) of the individual in question.
Locating anthropometric points in 2D and 3D images is a manual and time-consuming task, so in the latest version of the software it can also be done automatically.
The availability of such a robust forensic facial identification tool is especially helpful in addressing the following:
- Involuntary missing persons
- Disaster Victim Identification
- Enforced disappearances
- Mass migration
- Armed conflict
- Historical Memory
- Education & Research
Objectivity is key in forensic analysis. As part of the skull face overlay analysis, Skeleton·ID automatically considers the camera’s orientation, facial pose, focal length, and subject-to-camera distance for all images used. This ensures that the results of the craniofacial superimposition are measured with a likelihood ratio, providing a reliable and unbiased assessment. Skeleton ID’s skull face overlay is a powerful identification tool for examination and comparison by trained professionals.
Please contact us if you have questions or would like us to consult on a case in which you feel our service would benefit you.
Facial comparison/analysis, within a legal context, concerns assessing an individual’s possible identity using scaled and aligned photographic images or demonstrating morphologically comparable features.
Civil and criminal investigators, private individuals, and collectors may submit photos for expert evaluation by Michael W. Streed, SketchCop® Solutions’ facial identification expert.
Law enforcement and select private investigators who are hunting fugitives, war criminals, or trying to identify victims of human trafficking are also encouraged to contact us.
Michael has received over 100 hours of specialized training in forensic facial comparison & analysis conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ideal Innovation’s Face Center of Excellence, and MorphoTrak.
He has compared & analyzed facial photographs of celebrities, sports figures, murder victims, and alleged organized crime figures submitted by collectors, authors, and the entertainment industry.
In 2015, the History Channel asked Michael to evaluate and compare photographs of John and Clarence Anglin for their documentary – Alcatraz: Search for the Truth. The brothers escaped from the prison in 1962 with fellow inmate Frank Morris. For decades, they were presumed dead. It was Michael’s expert analysis that changed the course of the investigation.
Please get in touch with us if you have a project that requires facial comparison and analysis.
Investigators use age-progression photos to help locate missing persons or hunt wanted fugitives. These images are especially useful during human trafficking investigations involving long-term missing children and adults or those hunting war criminals and other fugitives from justice.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children pioneered the use of software technology to age progress photos of long-term missing children. Their success has encouraged investigators from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to use these images during missing person cold cases.
The United States Marshals Service, whose duty is tracking and arresting America’s most violent criminals, uses age-enhanced photos to assist them during their investigations.
Civil attorneys have adopted the use of age-progression photos as a powerful litigation tool during wrongful death lawsuits. Family members of missing & deceased persons use them as tools for hope and comfort in their search for loved ones or to help them grieve the untimely death of a friend or family member.
Michael is one of the world’s leading age progression artists/experts, with over 200+ hours of specialized training provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He uses traditional illustration techniques blended with industry-leading AI-powered photo editing software to produce powerful images that provide healing and justice.
If you want to learn more or hire us for your next project, visit our Contact page. Please be prepared to submit the information listed below.
Requirements:
- Please provide the most up-to-date scanned portrait-style photograph. Note: Fugitive Investigators should provide as much lifestyle or medical information as legally allowed.
- Include photographs of bloodline siblings or parents taken at or near the age of the missing/deceased person.
- Scanned photographs should be a minimum of 5 x 7 inches in size at 300-600 dpi resolution.
- To send multiple or oversized photos, email Contact@SketchCop.com to receive instructions.
- SketchCop® WILL NOT accept original photographs.
Note: The completed image is not guaranteed to be an ‘exact likeness’ of the person depicted. It should only be considered an “approximation.”