The otherwise techn-savvy Chandigarh Police still relies on the artists at Sukhna lake here to make the sketches of wanted criminals.
The Police Department has no professional sketcher and takes assistance of artists at Sukhna lake to make sketches of criminals as and when required. A Police official admitted that the Department has no professional who can make the sketches.
“Since 2003, our department is using the software for sketching. There is no such mechanism of hand-sketching of wanted criminals,” a source said. “Police personnel who know how to operate the computer, make the sketches on the basis of description,” he added.
According to the information given, 15 computer operators at different stations have been given training by their seniors to make the sketch of wanted criminals.
“We use software to make the sketches of wanted criminals. We have sample images of face parts. For instance- we have different type of nose images. According to the description of complainant, the operators fit the face part in that artificial sketching through the software,” Said, Sukhwinder Singh, Inspector in Chandigarh Police.
“The software is being provided to us by National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB),” he added. While talking to The Pioneer, sketch artists at Sukhna lake disclosed that Punjab and Chandigarh police personnel come to them with the victim or complainant to make the sketches of criminals.
“We make the sketches and Police pay us for that. In some cases of robbery of huge amount, they pay us well,” said Surender Kumar, an artist.
Meet Nimaan, another artist said, “No software can be accurate as the artists have a vision which is close to accurate. Our daily observations and vision to identify the features of human make our sketches almost accurate to the actual criminal.”
When contacted, RP Upadhyay, UT Inspector General of Police (IGP), said, “We use the software for sketching. So there is no such need to have sketch artists.”