New technology should make it easier to produce phantom images using DNA – to help the police solve crimes. The method, which is already used at American companies, is very welcome, according to Jan Staaf, criminal inspector for serious crimes Norrköping Police.
– We have benefited from this type of method in a couple of murder cases, he says.
Right now, a research study is underway at the Forensic Medicine Agency, where they are investigating the possibility of producing phantom images – with the help of DNA. Human DNA found in, among other things, hair, blood or saliva should now be able to help the police determine the eye color, hair color and origin of potential perpetrators, explains Andreas Tillmar, associate professor of forensic genetics at the Swedish Medical Examiner’s Office.
– If you have access to DNA but have no idea who it could be, you can get information that can lead the police further in the investigation, he says.
Not completely risk-free
However, Tillmar believes that it is quite complex to produce a facial image using only DNA. Partly because there are many different genes that control different parts of the face, and partly because there is much in appearance that we ourselves can control.
– We can fix a hairstyle, shave the hair, save a beard or put on different types of glasses, he says.
There is also a risk that there will be other errors, says Tillmar.
– There can be mainly two types of errors. The only fault is that it doesn’t fit anyone and then you get stuck and have spent resources unnecessarily. The other error is that it resembles another person so that it becomes someone who is wrongly singled out, he says.
Welcomed by the police
Jan Staaf, is a criminal inspector and works with serious crimes at the Police in Norrköping, where there have been a lot of serious crimes recently. And he is positive about what the new technology can mean for criminal investigations in the future.
– This is fantastically exciting. We see how criminal actors increasingly try to avoid justice and get away. Then the police have to develop methods to find these people, and this is a very exciting tool for the future to know which way to go, he says.
But the method of creating phantom images using dna is not entirely new, but has been used in the past with the help of American companies. And according to Staaf, it has produced good results in a couple of murder investigations.
– We then got to see pictures of what a perpetrator might look like, and then compared it with the person when we found the person concerned. This is welcomed and I think taking this step is fantastic, he says.