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In December of 2002 I was asked to be one of two artist to take part in a Worst Case Scenario segment entitled "Eye Witness". Worst Case Scenario was a TBS TV series about interesting challenges. This segment was to be a test of how much a witness could remember and describe to police in a staged event. In my view, both of the witnesses I interviewed did well, and not to say with some pretty tough obstacles set up by the production managers. It was meant to show police procedure in handling the identification process. Though I found that it was not so true to police procedures in a couple important areas, investigation strategy and the lineup procedure.
In viewing this segment, please keep in mind that it is not police procedure to use all witnesses in a physical lineup at the same time. Truly, the police usually decide which witness to use, and which not to use. The interview process was done right, separating the witnesses from one another.
Also it is very important to realize that the subject to be identified was disguised with a jacket, tunic, and a goatee. The witness was advised by me to use the association of voice with visual characteristics. I was lucky enough to have interviewed the witness that did take note of the subjects encounter as you can see in the segment.

I didn't get adequate bill so I must introduce myself. I'm Robert Exter, the man wearing black shaking my first witness's hand.
This witness told me that he didn't observe the subjects face. He noted the clothing and backpack with a yellow diamond shaped design. He did not remember the right vehicle color.

 

 
 

During the two interviews, I made several sketches of both face and clothing. In a real interview the drawing would not be limited to a time frame. I had four hours to interview two witnesses.
This shows the credibility of a witness that did not see the face. In the video you will note that the witness was discredited. You never should discredit a witness. You might have to use them where they are accurate.
   

Subjects disguise with a jacket, tunic and a goatee.

 

The witness was able to put together the subject's voice and facial characteristics during the lineup process.

Note the turned down mouth the cheekbone structure. The nose is close. Note that the man was disguised heavily. All in all, the witness was excellent in her un-startled observation. Most people need something disturbing to happen in order to help them remember detail, like having a weapon pointing at them or something scary. I had to interview two witnesses within 4 hours and could have been more accurate if given more time to work.

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