Cognitive Interviewing involves a set of techniques employed by the police to help eyewitnesses recall information about the crime they witnessed. As part of an ongoing programme of research using procedures that emulate police practice as far as possible, we assess the potential benefit of recalling the environmental context (the “crime scene”) to the identification of composites constructed by eyewitnesses (a visual likeness of an offender’s face).
Primary goals and objectives
- Development of optimal eyewitness interviewing procedures for solving crime
- Production of facial composites in a supervised environment
- Optimisation of techniques that produce the most identifiable composite face
Related research projects
Investigating the effect of visual load on EvoFIT facial composites
The research programme is investigating the impact of presentation of faces to eyewitnesses during construction of EvoFIT facial composites.- Article
Helping the police to identify offenders using EvoFIT facial composites
In the fight against serious crime police forces worldwide are using advanced digital technology co-developed with the University’s forensic practitioners. Enhancing the effectiveness of facial-composite images
The aim of this programme of research is to understand how to produce more identifiable facial composites by enhancing internal facial features (i.e., the eyes, mouth) using a holistic composite system.Strategies for evolving identifiable facial composite images
This programme of research investigates the best strategies to use when evolving a face from long-term memory using holistic facial-composite systems.Self-administered procedures for constructing identifiable facial composites
Our research focuses on techniques that allow police to identity suspects through use of composite images produced by witnesses and victims of crime.
