ANGUILLIAN DETECTIVE SPEAKS

The following is an extract from the Slough Observer in the United Kingdom. Detective Constable Glenn Webster, featured in the story, is an Anguillian Police Officer serving in Slough. He is the son of the late Elbert and Edith Webster of Island Harbour.
By Rebecca Johnson

HOW POLICE CLOCK THE CROOKS

How police profilers work to produce accurate pictures of the criminals they are hunting was demonstrated this week.
Before the age of IT profiling was a hit-and-miss affair, but today using state-of-the-art computer software all has changed.
It now takes only a matter of hours to produce e-fit photographs or electronic facial images, as they are known.
But the results still depend very much on the expertise of the profiler and the ability of victims to describe their attacker. This was explained by profiler Det Con Glenn Webster to a meeting of Windsor Neighbourhood Watch Association on Monday at Homer First School, Dedworth.

For example, a left ear is broken down into 12 sections by the computer and eyebrows into 14 different types – all of which can be quickly mixed and matched on screen.

DC Webster, who has served in Thames Valley Police for 20 years and spent the last five as an e-fit profiler, says it takes only two to three hours to create an image.

“It’s surprising how many people can just recall the offender when they shut their eyes,” he told members.

“Some years ago all we had was fingerprints and a description, but now we have computer software that can construct the image,” he added.

DC Webster stressed the importance of victims getting a good look at offenders. An example he gave of the value of e-fits was the one of James Thompson, who was jailed in December for seven years for raping a 17-year-old girl in Iver.
“It’s uncanny the likeness between the description and the actual man,” he said.

Detective Constable Glenn Webster