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MANILA, Philippines?Gone are the days when Philippine policemen have to solely rely on artist sketches to catch a killer.
The black-and-white, pencil sketches did not provide an accurate picture of the suspect. But thanks to ?Facefit? technology, the Philippine National Police can now come up with 3-D photos of suspects which resemble the ?real? facial features of the suspect.
Facefit, or a computerized Composite Illustration System, allows crime scene investigators to produce images of suspects by choosing from a database of over 700 stored facial images. From the color of the eyes to skin color, Facefit technology allows policemen to accurately produce images of the suspects for better identification from the public.
The Australian government on March 10 donated three Facefit systems to the PNP in line with the 25th anniversary of the Australian Federal Police.
The three systems, which cost around P250,000 each, are an addition to the five Facefits already owned by the PNP.
Almost similar to the image-editing software Adobe Photoshop, Facefit allows the user to choose among different types of facial features and edit them accordingly. They can also edit skin color, size of the eyes, eye color, and other facial details.
The recent product of Facefit was the photo of road rage suspect Jason Ivler prior to his arrest. Police Officer 2 Joseph Logronio said the relatives of Renato Ebarle Jr. came in to describe Ivler and when they compared the picture produced by Facefit with Ivler?s actual photo, the results were almost a 100 percent match.
Chief Superintendent Francisco Manalo, director of the PNP Crime Lab, meanwhile said that Facefits have helped the PNP catch around 50 suspects in 2009.
The five Facefits are currently deployed in Metro Manila, northern and southern Luzon, Mindanao, and Visayas.
Manalo said the additional Facefits will be deployed to Bicol, Metro Manila, and Northern Luzon.
Australian Ambassador Rod Smith said, ?The assistance is part of Australia?s continuing commitment to support Philippine law enforcement agencies prevent and respond to security threats and transnational crime.?
He added that Facefit would complement ?existing equipment provided earlier by the AFP (Australian Federal Police) to boost capacity of the PNP to fight crime throughout the Philippines.?
Aside from donating Facefits, the AFP also provided training to PNP personnel for the use of the new technology. Smith said more than 100 policemen have been trained to use the system.
Logronio, meanwhile, said that Facefit is also used in reporting missing persons.
Since it began operations in the country in September 1984, the AFP has provided support to the PNP. According to the Australian embassy, the AFP has provided forensics, intelligence, and investigative support during the 2004 Superferry bombing, the 2005 Valentine?s Day bombings, and other terrorist-related investigations.
Over a thousand officers were also trained by the AFP in various disciplines, including intelligence reporting and analysis, investigations management, surveillance, hostage negotiation, counter terrorism operations, command and control, and critical incident management and leadership.
