VisionMetric Ltd.

If you were attacked on a crowded street, how well could you remember the perpetrator's face hours later?

Investigators, are you frustrated by the lack of detail most witnesses can give of their assailant?

VisionMetric can help you the investigator, and your witness identify the suspect.

E-FIT™ for Windows is the most advanced suspect likeness facial composite software package in use today, and is transforming the work of criminal and forensic investigators in police forces and security services across the world. Using descriptions given by victims and eye witnesses, a realistic facial composite likeness of a criminal suspect can be constructed from 10 comprehensive databases. Distinguishing features such as scars, glasses, beards/moustaches, age lines, hats and earrings can be added to individualize the composite. The E-FIT™ composite can be further fine-tuned using industry standard paint programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Photodraw. A number of E-FIT™ operators report that in excess of 50% of E-FIT™ composites lead to the identification of a suspect. Two operators in the U.S.A. claim that 90% of their composites, created using E-FIT™ software, have led to the identification of the suspects involved.

VisionMetric also provide further software packages to aid the identification of suspects. A moving 3-dimensional likeness of a suspect's head can be created from an original 2-dimensional E-FIT™ using our 3D EFIT™ program. This provides a more lifelike composite that can be viewed from any angle. Clothe-IT™ allows law enforcement officers to create a full length bodily likeness of a suspect as they appeared when committing a crime. This can be a valuable tool when witnesses aren't able to give many facial details. These additional programs, like E-FIT™ for windows, have been designed to be easy-to-use and are an effective complement to the E-FIT™ software.

E-FIT™ for Windows is the market leader in the facial composite field not only because of the technology it utilizes, but because of its ease of use. Each feature can be separately manipulated through an easy-to-understand graphical user interface, with the composite in constant view so that the operator and witness can view the results of each alteration throughout the interview.

Our software is the result of a collaboration between VisionMetric, The Home Office and The Departments of Psychology from Aberdeen, Westminster and the Open Universities. E-FIT™ provides a solution for obtaining facial composites of a suspect, utilizing the technology of the Microsoft .NET Framework, and an interview process known as "The Cognitive Interview". VisionMetric has pioneered this psychological interviewing technique as part of its service for law enforcement officers, giving them the ability to maximize the potential of our software.

E-FIT™ Software

E-FIT™ is a computer based facial composition system, that enables a trained operator to produce an accurate "type-likeness" based upon a witness's description. E-FIT™ is unique since it recognises, and was developed to include, the psychological factors that affect our ability to recall and recognise faces. It has been designed so that novice operators can easily and quickly produce accurate images.

E-FIT™ has been installed in 45 British Police services including the Facial Identifiaction Unit at New Scotland Yard. It has also been supplied to Police Forces in a further 25 countries. In the USA and Canada, 96 systems are in use by various States and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, plus the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the FBI. The system has also been installed at 2 Non UK and 8 UK universities, where it is currently in use in facial recognition experiments. The research from this will be utilised in further developments of E-FIT™. Current research by Westminster University is designed to give Investigating Officers guidance on the use of multiple witnesses.

Psychology

E-FIT™ is based upon understanding how witnesses may be helped in the process of recalling a face. E-FIT™ systems should be used in conjunction with the "cognitive interview" technique devised by Dr. Gieselmann and Dr. Fisher. E-FIT™ can be operated discretely so the witness only has to focus on the face. To the witness it feels as if the face is being altered directly through their instructions.

Operating E-FIT™

E-FIT™ systems are designed so that the initial witness interview can be conducted away from the computer. The first image the witness then sees is composed from the initial interview.

The witness can describe features in any order, in as little or as much detail as they are able. This frees the interviewer and witness to proceed in the way that is most effective using "cognitive interview" techniques.

E-FIT™ always shows complete faces, hence features are always displayed in context. This is an important psychological detail since presenting a witness with a large number of disembodied features is overwhelming and adversely affects their memory of the offender's face. By showing complete faces, with default features where no descriptions are offered, a memory enhancing phenomenon may be promoted. For example if a witness cannot remember a correct nose, the officer may temporarily use a default nose. The witness then finds the correct eyes and remembers how the nose looks in relation to the eyes. The witness could not have identified the nose in isolation as he or she only remember the general pattern of the face and not specific details.

By use of this 'holistic' approach to recognition, memory interference or contamination is minimised.

Locking the edit

E-FIT™ programs offer operators the ability to lock an edit at any point when the witness is convinced about a particular point e.g. the width of the eyes. Any subsequent eyes are locked to the same width.

E-FIT™ features can be easily mixed and matched. It is possible to quickly produce a series of E-FIT™s where all the features remain the same except that each one has a different hairstyle.

Edit mode

In the edit mode it is simple to re-describe individual features without interfering with the rest of the face. This is very advantageous when a witness's opinion about a particular feature changes. In this mode the height, width, position and tone can be easily and invisibly altered.

Image Grabbing

With the addition of a video camera, capture card or a flatbed scanner and software, the system can frame grab external images. By combining this facility with E-FIT™ several options become possible.

Age a face.

Retouch and produce a more acceptable image from a picture of a mutilated or partially decomposed face.

Recreate the image of the scene of the crime.

Update an out-of date picture of a suspect by adding possible disguises. For example adding glasses, changing the hairstyle.

Create own library of accessories, e.g. jewellery worn by local youths.

Import images from surveillance cameras and produce enhanced images for circulation.

Accessories

An interview may involve the accessories section of E-FIT™. There are libraries of glasses, hats. earrings, scars, dimples, eye bags and facial lines. These can be edited in the normal way in respect of height, width, position and tone. They can all be mirrored or temporarily hidden at any time.

The artist's touch

The latest E-FIT™.NET program automatically links to a number of proprietary paint programs offering Police Artists the necessary tools to enhance and alter the final details of an E-FIT™ image. For example, operators may alter a hair line or retouch facial detail.

Ease of use

The E-FIT™ program has been designed with ease of use as a primary objective. This allows the operator to concentrate on the witness. The program is driven by icons and a mouse. Context sensitive help is available at all times

Operation and Training

No computer experience is needed as all the operations are designed to be straightforward and consistent. The systems are, however, sufficiently sophisticated to warrant tuition and practice. VisionMetric Ltd are able to give training on the use of the E-FIT™ program as well as on facial identification techniques (including the "cognitive interview"). Ultimately the operator will be able to use the program intuitively, concentrating solely on the witness.

Output

E-FIT™ generates industry standard TIFF files and can be physically connected to a large number of output devices. Once an image is complete it can immediately be printed and distributed directly from the workstation or portable system. This allows the witness to sign their acceptance of the image immediately avoiding ambiguity during later legal proceedings. E-FIT™s can also be transmitted and received by any fax machine as they are printed in a digital half tone similar to black and white photographs.

Developments

The latest version of the E-FIT™ software, E-FIT™.NET, is now available. This version is a complete re-write of the software, bringing many enhancements over the old version 3.1. This previous version was designed to run on the earlier Windows operating systems i.e. Windows 3.1/95/98 and NT. Microsoft Inc has announced that it has ceased to provide any support for these operating systems. In keeping with this change, E-FIT™.NET utilises the Microsoft .NET framework supported by the newer operating systems; Windows 2000 and XP. Microsoft have stated that all new operating systems produced over the next 12 years will incorporate the .NET framework, meaning all future Windows software applications, such as E-FIT™, will require .NET technology. As well as the advantage of 'future proofing' the software, E-FIT™.NET also incorporates a number of improvements that research and 'use in the field' has identified as highly beneficial for the program. These include better composite image quality, easier to use re-sizing and moving tools, autosave of image after each instance of editing, thumbnail view of features, better interfacing with paint programs and the ability to display more accessories than before.

Systems

E-FIT™.NET, can be installed and commissioned on standard entry level P.C.s running Windows 2000 or later. The system may be installed either on a desktop or a portable machine. For information regarding the minimum specification, try the technical issues page.

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Hardware

Minimum Specification

Pentium 3 800Mhz or equivalent
256Mb RAM
15 Gb Hard Disk
32 Mb Graphics
Graphics Tablet or Mouse
Video screen drivers capable of displaying 1024x768 screen resolution in 32 bit colour.
8x CD ROM
Floppy drive / CD-RW / or other external storage media.
USB Port

Recommended Specification

Pentium 4 1.8 Ghz or equivalent
512 Mb RAM
20 Gb Hard Disk
64 Mb Graphics
Graphics Tablet or Mouse
Video screen drivers capable of displaying 1024x768 screen resolution in 32 bit colour.
Preferably 'not' a widescreen monitor or laptop
32x CD / 16x DVD ROM
Floppy drive / CD-RW / or other external storage media.
USB Port

Operating System

Microsoft Windows 7 (32-BIT)
Microsoft Windows Vista (32-BIT)
Microsoft Windows XP (32-BIT)
Microsoft Windows 2000
Paint program - With TIF/BMP compatibility and retouching capability.
Printing / Reporting / DTP Program - Capable of importing TIFF/BMP images.
The older operating systems, Windows 98(SE) and NT, support the .NET framework that the program relies on, but it is likely to run very slowly since older machines will not have advanced enough hardware. In addition to this, Microsoft have officially ceased to support any operating system older than Windows 2000, hence 98 and NT are now somewhat outdated. Therefore, VisionMetric cannot guarantee that E-FIT™.NET / EFIT-V™ / Clothe-IT™ will run efficiently on any machine using Windows '98 or NT, but may do in specific cases where the hardware is sufficiently advanced (see above).

Recommended Paint Programs

Corel PaintShopPro Photo X2, can be provided on request.

Recommended Printing / Reporting / DTP programs

Microsoft Publisher 2000 or above.
Microsoft Word 2000 or above.

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