Q&A: Behind the Scenes on Investigation Discovery’s ‘The Shift’
Homicide detectives might not wear tactical pants as often as others in law enforcement, but that doesn’t make their role any less significant.
That role is highlighted extensively on Investigation Discovery’s The Shift. In its third season, the one-hour reality show follows six detectives uncovering murders and catching criminals for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Pauline Mason, an executive producer of The Shift, took a break from her busy day to chat about the offscreen aspects of documenting real-life crime. The Shift airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
What’s the most challenging aspect of filming a crime-based reality show?
The most challenging aspect is staying true to the story while respecting all the individuals involved, in whatever capacity they are involved in, including the deceased. Also, because everything we capture is in the moment and will never happen again, work can be challenging in the edit room!
Are there different precautions you take with this type of show as opposed to American Chopper?
Yes, of course. We are following homicide detectives and real life-and-death situations. We are always aware of this.
How difficult is it to capture the true reality of these situations without being tempted to tamper with any surroundings?
It’s not difficult at all. We would never dream of touching—let alone tampering with—a real-life investigation.
What should viewers expect from season three? Anything new without giving away too much?
The stories are as poignant and varied as other seasons. Some of the detectives are new and there are also the familiar faces.
Some could argue that this show sheds too much light on this profession. Isn’t detective work all about discretion? Do detectives on the show ever worry about overexposure and recognition?
It’s actually quite the opposite. All the detectives featured on The Shift have reported that more recognition in the community leads to more trust, which ultimately leads to more people coming forward with information and more homicides being solved.
Is there a certain amount of time you need to wait after filming the investigation to air the footage? On average, how much time lapses while filming a single episode?
The time of course varies, because we are dealing with real life investigations, but on average when we start filming a case it’s approximately 15 weeks before we deliver the show.
How did you convince the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to let you film this show? Or did they immediately embrace the idea?
We’ve worked on other crime shows in the past, so there was a level of trust already in that we’ve had that kind of experience. There’s always a “getting to know you” period of time at the beginning of shooting, but we hire great people that know what they are doing and once the IMPD saw the final product, they knew they could trust us to continue.
Familiar with The Shift? What do you think about police-related reality shows?
Ladies Tactical Pants Try-On Party
TacticalPants.com's fantastic customer service team in khaki Woolrich Elite Series and navy 24-7 Series tactical pants.
The customer service team at TacticalPants.com always goes above and beyond customers needs.
How so?
On Tuesday, the dedicated group stayed after-hours to test all ladies tactical pants in our warehouse. This is the first time—possibly ever—where almost all ladies tactical pants were laid out and compared side by side. Who was missing? 5.11 Tactical, who makes three styles of women’s tactical pants. Maybe someday soon we’ll be able to include them in our lineup.
While some on staff previously donned tactical pants, none had tried on all the ladies pants one right after the other. Looking at a number of criteria, fit was at the top of our list. Sure, tactical pants should be functional and durable, but if it doesn’t fit right, it won’t matter what kind of pants you are wearing.
Our staff preferred low rise as opposed to natural or high waisted pants; a trimmer fit over baggy. We wanted female operator pants that made us feel *and* look good. Piles of pants of all sizes and colors later, we had a clear-cut winner.
- Editor’s choice: 24-7 Series ladies Tru-Spec pants are by far our favorite. The waist comes to the hips with a trim fit. No pleats create a modern look. And the lightweight 65 percent polyester and 35 percent cotton material give the pants great mobility.
- Runner up: Vertx pants for women are very stylish and even more discreet. However, they are just a tad too baggy for us. Its olive drab color, though, is a beautiful, lush shade of green. We wish every tactical pant came in this color.
Get more details on the winners as well as the losers when we publish a mini tactical pants review just for women. Keep an eye out for it in the following weeks.
Genuine Gear Tactical Pants Delivery
Guess who got 4,000 pairs of Genuine Gear Tactical Pants today?
OK, that’s too easy.
We’ve been raving about Propper’s new take on tactical for weeks now. Possibly months. And today we welcomed the trousers into our warehouse. Even though a coworker dreamed all the pant leg openings were going to arrive sewn shut, they appear to be in mint condition.
Did we mention these pants are ONLY $24.99?! That makes them one of the most affordable tactical pants ever.
Available in black, khaki, LAPD navy and olive, the pants were added to TacticalPants.com yesterday as well as to our sister site BDU.COM.
Q&A with a Helicopter Cop
Helicopter Cop Darryl Kimball
Some police officers roam the streets on horseback. Others zip by on a Segway. And then there are the lucky few who patrol in the air.
For the last five years Darryl Kimball has done just that. Being a police pilot means doing a lot more than routine traffic stops.
He founded the website PoliceHelicopterPilot.com because there was a lack of knowledge about law enforcement aviation on the Internet. In fact, the top-ranking site on Google for “police helicopter pilot” gave sheriffs of the sky a bad rap. Nowadays his site is the No. 1 source for police and sheriff helicopter info.
This week Kimball announced on his blog that he has been promoted to sergeant and will be leaving the aviation unit for now.
“While there are no guarantees in life, I certainly hope and plan on returning to the air unit when the next sergeant position comes open, sometime in the not-too-distant future,” he writes. “But no worries, in the mean time my love for aviation, helicopters and law enforcement flying shall not be impeded, I assure you!”
Before the big news broke, Kimball sat down to answer some questions for us about law enforcement aviation.
How did you become involved with aviation?
Prior to being selected to my department’s aviation unit, I had no formal aviation experience. When I was a young deputy, my brother went out and got his fixed-wing private pilot license, and I flew with him quite a bit around Southern California and over to Vegas a couple of times. I loved flying but thought of it as too dangerous to really pursue.
As a deputy working the streets in San Diego County, I saw our aviation/helicopter unit in action many, many times over the years. I began to develop a strong interest in the unit and interviewed for a position for the first time in late 1999. At the time I had 15 years on my department as a deputy sheriff.
Five years and three interviews later, I was selected as a new “observer” or tactical flight officer in the unit. After about 18 months in the unit, I was sent to flight school by my department and returned as a commercially rated helicopter pilot.
How many police officers really get to fly helicopters?
Our department employs approximately 3,000 deputy sheriffs in detentions, courts and law enforcement field services. Our air unit is made up of approximately 14 deputy sheriff pilots. So you can see that overall, it is a small percentage of police officers or deputies who get the opportunity to work in the air unit and become pilots.
Do a lot of departments have aviation units or is that just in bigger metropolises?
The vast majority of small to medium size law enforcement agencies do not have an air unit and tend to rely on air support from the larger agencies in their region who do have air support units. This will often be a nearby large police department, sheriff’s department, the state police, highway patrol, etc.
There are, however, many smaller sheriff’s departments who operate one or two helicopters for specialized missions. These helicopters are often sourced for free from the military as surplus aircraft and supported through drug seizure money.
When are the helicopter units used? We really couldn’t imagine making a routine traffic stop in a helicopter…
Most agencies with formal air support units try to fly a certain number of hours per day in support of officers or deputies on the ground. Some agencies have more structured flight regimens while other agencies give the crews more discretion on when to fly. It is a combination of responding to radio calls and being on routine patrol so that you are close to the action when something starts to unfold.
Exactly what the helicopter is used for is often related to the geographic area where it is based. Police department helicopters generally speaking patrol within their city limits. Sheriff Department helicopters tend to get involved in rescue work and searches for missing hikers, etc. The San Diego Sheriff’s Dept. Air Support Unit does a considerable amount of work in San Diego’s vast east county which is home to both 6,000-foot mountain peaks and the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.
In addition to radio calls involving criminal activity, police and sheriff helicopter crews alike respond daily to missing children and missing elderly calls. In these types of situations, the P.A. system on the helicopter is often the most effective tool in finding a missing child or a missing Alzheimer’s patient for example.
An entire section of your website is devoted to “How to Become a Police Helicopter Pilot.” What advice would you give to someone interested in that career path?
The U.S. is full of experienced pilots that would love to fly for a law enforcement agency, but about 90 percent of all agencies with an air unit select their flight officers and pilots from the sworn members of their department.
There is no single reason for this, it is just how these air units developed over the past 50 years. Anyone wishing to become a law enforcement pilot should commit to becoming a sworn law enforcement officer and spending as much as 10 years working the streets and other assignments as they work their way to a position in the air unit. But they must do this knowing that there is no guarantee they will ever be selected. They will have to compete for these positions.
To be more specific, however, anyone who wishes to become a law enforcement pilot should research medium size to large agencies in their region who have an existing air unit with a long history. Our air unit has been in operation since the early 1970s. That means 30 years from now, it will in all likelihood still be in operation.
Now while you are working your way toward a position in the air unit, go out and get a fixed wing private pilot license. Do not waste your money on a helicopter license. Most agencies want you to have some aviation experience, but few expect you to get your own helicopter license (which is about twice as expensive as a fixed wing license.) Most agencies will train you to fly their helicopters.
So now you have a stable career as a law enforcement officer, you have your private airplane rating so you can go out and enjoy flying on your own time, and you are in the perfect position to be selected for a position in your department’s aviation unit.
What’s the most exciting part of the job?
The most exciting part of the job is still the chase. That is actively pursuing a fleeing suspect whether in a vehicle or on foot. We don’t want vehicle pursuits to occur, but we know they are still going to happen, and we want to be there to help out when they do.
The most challenging?
For the missions our unit performs, the most challenging for me is probably “slinging” or “long lining” marijuana in remote parts of the county. We do this many times throughout the marijuana growing season.
We are often working in mountains and canyons, battling the wind, while trying to get the empty hook on a 75-foot line to the narcotics officers on the ground in confined areas. Lifting the marijuana load out requires the pilot to monitor his power gauges in the helicopter while trying to read the wind and keep the helicopter out of dangerous flight conditions such as “loss of tail rotor effectiveness,” which can occur while pulling lots of power in certain downwind or crosswind conditions. This is probably the most dangerous mission our unit performs.
Do police helicopter pilots wear tactical pants?
We wear flame-resistant flight suits which certainly have tons of tactical pockets and cool places to put stuff.
Most of our members keep a couple sets of tactical clothing, pants, etc., for other assignments such as when teaching firearms at the academy or filling in on the SWAT team. A good pair of tactical pants is a must-have in our line of work.
(Image via Dan Megna)
How to Waterproof Tactical Pants
There are plenty of tactical pants on the market that are water and stain resistance.
Blackhawk uses a Durable Water Repellent, while EOTAC, Propper, Woolrich and 5.11 Tactical all employ DuPont™ Teflon. But what happens to these treatments after several thousand washes? And what if your brand or style wasn’t water repellent to begin with?
Looks like it’s time to do it yourself.
First you’ll need to do some research to find the right waterproofing product for your fabric type. We hear Nikwax’s Cotton Proof product works well on cotton and polycotton. It’s advertised to give water repellency and increase breathability. Another plus is that it’s environmentally friendly and does not affect the cosmetic appearance.
Make sure your pants are clean prior to the application wash. Either hand or machine wash the pants, but be sure the detergent dispenser is cleaned with the residue removed.
Place Nikwax Cotton Proof in the machine dispenser, and use the cotton wash cycle. If you’d like to handwash the pants instead, just use the Nikwax during that process.
While Nikwax doesn’t require heat activation, you can still tumble the pants dry on a low setting. First check with the care instructions on the label though. You can also hang dry the pants.
The video below displays how Nikwax works on all types of apparel.
Tactical Talk: Meteorite Men’s Geoffrey Notkin
Meteorite Men Steve Arnold and Geoffrey Notkin
People call him a modern day treasure hunter. Yet Geoffrey Notkin’s quest for meteorites is driven by a love for science, not fame and fortune.
His relentless pursuit of outer space relics has taken him to some of the most remote locales in the world. As co-host of the Science Channel’s Meteorite Men, Notkin shares his passion and adventures with the world. He also happens to wear a lot of tactical clothes while doing so.
So, how does he gear up for global space-rock missions? While filming season two of the hit show, Notkin sat down to answer that question and more.
Exactly how rare is it to find a meteorite?
The vast majority of people alive today will never find a meteorite, or even have the opportunity to touch one or hold one. Meteorites are perhaps the most elusive treasure on our planet—rarer than uranium, gold or even emeralds—and they are one of our few tangible links we have to outer space (Apollo-era lunar samples being another).
Why collect them?
Studying meteorites that have fallen to Earth can help us understand the fabric, and perhaps even the origin, of the planets and asteroids that, along with us, make up Solar System. A contemporary theory suggests that meteorites may have brought carbon, water and amino acids to our planet, thereby seeding our world with the ingredients needed to generate the simplest and earliest life forms. Spacecraft designers have studied the shapes of meteorites, and there is an international network of collectors who are passionate about space rocks.
So, meteorites are worth money to collectors and contribute unique and valuable information to academics. Who wouldn’t want a piece of outer space?
A meteorite Notkin found in Morocco in 2000.
Do a lot of people find ordinary rocks and mistake them for meteorites? And do they send them to you?
Yes, every day! When I’m not working on the Meteorite Men TV series I devote much of my time to our sister company Aerolite Meteorites, which specializes in meteorite recovery and sales, as well as science writing and photography. One of the services we enjoy providing is advising people who think they may have found a rock from space. Our Guide to Meteorite Identification is one of the most popular pages on the website, and it receives tens of thousands of visits annually.
On a typical day at the Aerolite offices, we’ll receive four or five identification inquires by e-mail, one or two by phone, and perhaps one mailed-in specimen. We recommend that anyone who thinks he or she might have found a meteorite either e-mail us a few photos or send in a small sample for analysis. A lot of people take us up on that offer.
In an average year we receive thousands of requests for help in identifying suspected meteorites. We average roughly one genuine space rock for every 1,000 inquiries, and that not-very-encouraging statistic demonstrates just how rare meteorites are.
What’s the most bizarre discovery you’ve made while on a meteorite hunt?
We have found live ammunition, a Wild West revolver, two unexploded missiles, scorpions, rattlesnakes, a black bear, Frontier-era wagon wheels, gruesome vintage animal traps, aircraft parts, hand-forged tools and horseshoes, a chain big enough to hold down the Queen Mary, Civil War relics and numerous other things that we just couldn’t identify.
The strangest single incident took place when my Meteorite Men co-host Steve and I were hunting for meteorites in Kiowa County, Kan. We were searching in a field where we knew meteorites had been found about 130 years ago. We picked up a strong audio signal from a buried target and started to enthusiastically dig down to the source of that signal.
We’d excavated about two feet of rich Kansas soil when the bottom of the hole suddenly collapsed into nothingness. A few seconds later I heard a faraway splash, as clods of earth fell into invisible water, and then a terrifying whoosing, gargling sound spiraled up and out of the blackness. I thought we might have accidentally uncovered the secret entrance to the Underworld, and I jumped so far back, I must have looked like a cartoon character. Steve stood by the side of the hole, laughing and announced that we’d discovered an uncapped well of some sort.
It was funny in retrospect, but we often used to stand in a hole while digging, especially if we hit a dense clay layer. If one of us had been standing in the bottom of that hole, we could have fallen to a most unpleasant death. I make a point of not standing in holes anymore.
Will you ever get bored with looking for meteorites?
That’s a bit like asking if I think I might get bored of eating or breathing. Meteorite hunting isn’t just what I do for fun, or business, or for our television show—it’s the driving force in my life.
The thrill of uncovering a visitor from outer space is so invigorating that it makes you want to keep on doing it. Behavioral experts who study addiction and obsession could probably have a field day examining what makes us tick.
What advice would you give someone who dreams of tracking down a meteorite?
Forget about it, and get a real job! No, I’m just kidding, but a story from my college years strikes me as being appropriate here. I have a science and arts background, and graduated from New York’s School of Visual Arts (I art direct the Meteorite Men and Aerolite websites, as well as much of our photography and promotion, so the media arts degree came in very handy).
During my junior year, I was fortunate enough to study with the great Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist, illustrator and writer Art Spiegelman. In the first class he lectured us about being realistic: “If you want to make money and be wealthy, then please leave my class and become a doctor or lawyer. If you’re here, it should be because you need to be an artist.”
The same advice holds true for meteorite hunters. If you think searching for meteorites might be a good way to make a quick buck, then think again. Expeditions—especially international ones—are time consuming, complicated, expensive and sometimes dangerous. You need a lot of patience, stamina, and determination, and must be willing to put the time in.
But it’s also true that there are a good number of “weekend hunters”—meteorite enthusiasts who have day jobs but go out in the field during their spare time, and some of them have been successful. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone quit their day job and start hunting meteorites. Read some books, do your research, and give it a try. I recommend The Fallen Sky by Chris Cokinos, Meteorites by Dr. Alan Carion, and Rocks from Space by O. Richard Norton.
But don’t expect to come home with something from you first hunt.
Will there be a second season of Meteorite Men?
There will most definitely be a second season of Meteorite Men. In fact, the bulk of my answers to you were written onboard a jetliner while on my way to one of our most exciting Season Two locations.
Our network, Science Channel, has been tremendously supportive of our show, and we all want Meteorite Men to be bigger and better with more science and more adventure. To that end, Steve and I spent several months looking at possible hunt locations, devising new hunting strategies and experimenting with the latest equipment and technology.
We don’t want to spoil any surprises, but I can tell you that if you enjoyed Season One of Meteorite Men, then you’re going to be blown away by Season Two. As Bachman-Turner Overdrive said: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
What has the TV show done for your industry?
Professionals and amateurs in our field have, almost universally, reported increased sales, increased website traffic and a great upsurge in the number of possible meteorites sent in for identification.
For the past thirteen years, I have been attending the annual Tucson gem and mineral shows—the largest single assemblage of natural history wonders in the world. I operate a showroom at the Tucson Hotel City Center for the first two weeks of February each year. In previous years, we received plenty of visitors, but for the 2010 show our room was packed all day, every day, for fifteen consecutive days. Many people stopped in just to tell us that they enjoyed the show and to take a photo with us or purchase a meteorite.
A few brought possible meteorites for us to see and three gold prospectors from Arizona told us they’d watched the show and then decided to hunt for meteorites themselves. “And we found this!” they said, as they pulled an amazing 7-pound stone meteorite out of a backpack. So, our series is educating the public about meteorites and encouraging people to go out and look for space rocks themselves.
During a recent hunt in Wisconsin, which was prompted by a spectacular night time fireball, Steve told me that on two separate occasions families walked up to him and said: “We saw you on television and decided we’d try meteorite hunting ourselves.” On one hand, we’re creating our own competition and, on the other, we are helping to inform viewers about the wonder of space rocks.
There is also no doubt whatsoever that new meteorites are coming to light because people have seen Meteorite Men and become inspired. That’s good for science, and it’s good for the commercial meteorite market.
Do you wear tactical pants while out on the field? What brand has worked the best for you?
Actually, I have worn tactical pants in the field and in the lab! I am a great fan of 5.11 Tactical, and we use a lot of their gear. Your readers who are familiar with the extremely high quality of tactical clothing will not need me to tell them how durable and resilient it is. Compared to ordinary clothes, 5.11 tactical pants are virtually indestructible. The terrains I’ve worked in encompass mountains, desert, prairie, frozen tundra, muddy streams and rivers, heavy forest, farmland and desolate dry lake beds.
Notkin wearing 5.11 Tactical from head to toe.
We often use metal detectors to search for buried targets, and when I get a signal, the first thing I want to do is drop to my knees and start digging. If you do that a few times with regular cotton pants, you very quickly have no fabric left covering your skin. That’s not a good idea in areas where we might be kneeling on cactus, poison ivy, ticks or scorpions. Tactical pants are especially valuable to me in desert areas that are rife with cactus and other spiny plants. In fact, just about everything in the desert has something spiny on it! Tactical pants’ tough fabric helps protect me from cuts, abrasions and annoying insects.
I also carry a lot of small but important equipment with me: GPS, notebooks, compass, loupe, plastic bags for storing specimens, a camping knife, a small digital camera for documenting finds in situ and so on. I don’t want to be reaching into my backpack every five minutes looking for something, so the variety of pockets in my tactical pants are very useful.
What other sort of tactical gear has assisted you along the way?
I use a 5.11 Patrol Ready bag in the field and it’s invaluable. I need a rugged bag that can go anywhere with me, and keep the multitude of gadgets I need in the field, safe and in one place.
My 5.11 bag typically contains the following: My Leica digital camera, portable scale, small first aid kit, two Garmin GPS units, DSR Armor field computer, canteen, extra water and snack bars, spare parts for my metal detectors, cell phone, field notebook, pens, small towel, ballcap, maps, multi-purpose field knife and various other bits and pieces.
We work long days in the field—usually with a lot of ground to cover during a limited window of opportunity—and I can’t afford to waste time searching through a backpack or conventional suitcase trying to find what I need. My Patrol Ready bag has a full-zip top and multiple pockets, so I can locate what I want, when I want it, and it’s also a great carry-on bag for airline travel.
At beginning of Season Two of Meteorite Men, I finally retired my British army-style leather boots. I bought them in London, and they’ve been my preferred footwear for over twenty years. They are great in many situations, but they are heavy, hot in desert environments and have very poor traction on snow-covered slopes—something I discovered the hard way while filming Meteorite Men in Canada during October of 2009 (yes, that’s for all of you who watched the show and saw me fall over at Whitecourt Crater). I very recently acquired a pair of 5.11 XPRT Tactical 8″ boots, and I am already completely won over. These boots are extremely tough but also comfortable, lightweight, and attractive. Let’s be realistic here: I’m on television, and I want my gear to look good. The XPRT boots required almost no breaking in, and in a crunch I could have taken them out of the box and straight into the field.
(Images via Caroline Palmer and Suzanne Morrison © Aerolite Meteorites, LLC)
Kitanica Short XI.A
Our favorite, insanely tactical designer line is back. After releasing tactical shorts that look more like man-pris, Kitanica introduced a shorter (but not too short) pair tactical shorts.
Last week we received a first peek at the khaki-colored rugged shorts. You’ll be happy to know that it includes many of the over-the-top features that made the PNT X.A pants a hit. The pants have a 65/35 poly-cotton ripstop, a seven-belt loop contoured waistband, a riveted button waist with a three-snap fly and multiple bar-tacked stress points.
Other features include:
- Dual rear one-inch D-rings
- Double layer seat construction
- Cordura reinforced pocket corners with tether slot
- Left cargo pocket with dual interior elastic retainers and a pocket organizer
- Right leg pocket with zippered closure and pen sleeves
Tactical Talk: Ask a Forensic Artist
They don’t bust down doors or chase perps with tactical-ninja precision. But forensic artists play a pivotal role when it comes to identifying both suspects and victims.
The blog Ask a Forensic Artist explores that role through interviews with forensic artists across the country. After many interviews of her own, the woman who anonymously runs the blog agreed to answer some of our questions.
She is a forensic artist, of course. Oh yeah, and she wears tactical pants.
How does someone become a forensic artist? It seems like a pretty specific job.
It is actually very specific, and that’s the exact reason I started my blog: to tell people about this field as a career, and to give them a direction to go in if they want to pursue it. I think it’s confusing for people because there are actually four separate areas to forensic art (composite drawing, image modification, facial reconstruction of unidentified remains and demonstrative evidence). Each requires a somewhat different route to get there.
Some artists will be in an environment where they can do all four. But for the vast majority of forensic artists, composite drawings make up the bulk of their casework. I think the strongest, most direct shot you have at working in this field for any length of time is to focus on becoming a composite artist.
Being employed by a law enforcement agency first and pursuing composite art from there will save you years of pounding your head against the wall trying to break in from the outside. Once you’re established as a composite artist, the other areas can open up much more easily. Establishing a reputation, establishing trust, is key.
Do you find it to be a morbid career? Like on the same level as a coroner or something?
Not at all; it’s absolutely fascinating to me. Of course, if you told me 15 years ago that I would hold human skulls on an almost-daily basis, go to a morgue or be able to look at autopsy and crime scene photos without having nightmares, I would have said you were crazy.
But there’s something funny about forensic art: Once it finds you, you get hooked.
It just doesn’t occur to you to be bothered by those things anymore. I don’t distance myself and become insensitive; I just roll up my sleeves and do the work that needs to be done. My job is all about helping victims of crime and getting justice for them and their families.
What do you draw the most often?
Faces. All ages, all ancestries, in any condition, living or dead.
And these can either be hand-drawn with a pencil and paper, or drawn on the computer using photo-editing software. It all depends on the case and the quality of the images we have to start with as to which medium we use. Our whole job is about identification, so we use the best tool for the job. Sometimes it’s a pencil, sometimes it’s a pixel.
What’s the most interesting/exciting kind of case?
The ones that keep me up at night are the unidentified victims. The skull I’m working on is not just another case but a human being. They had a mom and a dad; they had a life, and a job, and they went about their day-to-day business. And now….
They’re a skull in an evidence locker. That bothers me immensely.
So, a facial reconstruction is very likely their last chance to get their name back and to bring them home to their family. By the time an unidentified skull makes its way to a forensic artist, the case is already cold. Either DNA and fingerprints didn’t come back with match, or they weren’t able to get usable samples to start with.
So, I feel a tremendous responsibility in these cases. Of course, forensic artists don’t do this alone; we work as a team with the forensic anthropologist, the case detective, the ME. When an identification is made, it’s extremely satisfying, but I know it was a team effort, and I’m just proud to be part of that.
With composite drawing, how hard is it to draw something that another person is describing?
It’s challenging because every case and every victim or witness is different. But forensic artists follow a general procedure, and we use reference images, too. A witness could describe someone with “beady eyes and a long nose,” but their perception of those features is very likely different from MY perception of them. So, once a witness has exhausted their verbal description of the person, we introduce reference photos to clarify what they are describing.
Also, people think the most important thing in a composite drawing is the drawing, when in fact it’s listening. You’ll hear experienced forensic artists say this: “a mediocre artist with excellent interviewing skills will catch more bad guys than an excellent artist with mediocre interviewing skills.” And that’s 100 percent true.
This work is not about drawing pretty pictures. Any decent artist can do that at home or in a classroom, where there’s no pressure, nothing’s on the line. Where push comes to shove is sitting next to a distraught witness, listening to them, and putting down their memory of that person on paper.
I would say the hardest part is the emotional drain. Artists that do a high volume of composite drawings have my utmost respect, because it takes something out of you, emotionally. Drawing is the easy part.
We read that there are very few full-time or freelance forensic artists out there. Instead a lot of folks wind up doing the artist bit along with a standard LEO gig. Is this true? What advice would you give to someone who is interested in checking it out as a career?
Absolutely true. But just because there are very few full-time artists doesn’t mean you can’t have a very fulfilling, very busy forensic art career as a component of your “regular” job in law enforcement.
The fact is, forensic art is a “niche” field. Not every agency believes in it, and even if they do, not all of them can afford to keep someone on their payroll for forensic art and nothing else. Having something else to bring to the table makes you much more valuable to the agency; it doesn’t dilute the effectiveness of forensic art in the least.
Also I would advise anyone interested in this as a career to examine WHY they want to do it. Do they want to show what a great artist they are, do they want to get their name in the paper, be known as some sort of altruistic hero? If so, find something else.
Also, remember what the term “forensic” means. As in, related to the judicial system. Any drawing you do will put you in court with a defense attorney whose sole purpose in life is to discredit you, get the drawing thrown out and save his client. This isn’t a job for the hobbyist.
But, if you are willing to work hard, with little to no acknowledgement of what you brought to the case, for little to no extra money, then I would say: develop your art skills, search out an agency that has enough crime to support the work of a forensic artist, and has the politics to support it as well, and go for it. Let the agency know your interest; show them you are willing to do the work. Actions, not talk.
If you are more interested in facial reconstruction than composites, get a degree focused on art, anthropology and anatomy, and become employed by a Medical Examiner’s office or police agency where they have a large number of unidentified remains. You need be where the work is.
This job isn’t for everyone, but I can’t imagine doing anything else. I absolutely love it. And I encourage anyone that has an interest in it to pursue it. We can always use another dedicated forensic artist in the field.
Now this seems like a pretty silly question, but we always get surprising answers—do forensic artists wear tactical pants? There’s a lot of pocket space for all sorts of art tools!
I actually do wear them most of the time at work! A good half of my time is spent drawing, sculpting with oil-based clay, or just running around the building getting things done. I come home with smudges of graphite, or bits of clay imbedded in my clothes. So this is not a job where I spend time contemplating what earrings to wear, or matching my nail polish … I dress to WORK.
Tactical Pants vs. EMS Pants
As we have learned, the original tactical pant didn’t really have a tactical purpose at all—unless you consider hiking and mountain climbing tactical affairs.
We also know that those initial 5.11’s quickly morphed into the tactical darling of the FBI and later SWAT, ATF, ICE, border patrols units added it to operation uniforms. From there, manufactures such as 5.11 Tactical, Propper, Tru-Spec by Atlanco used tactical pants as a model to create trousers specifically for EMTs.
Nowadays EMT/EMS pants sometimes can be confused for tactical pants. Why? Because they are extremely similar! Both pants have enough pockets to make your head spin and often boast the same poly/cotton materials. Really the only difference is an additional scissor pocket where medics can store trauma sheers.
Through our research and writing day in and day out about tac pants, we’ve found that some paramedics still don tactical pants and vice versa. One female police officer told us that EMT pants just her fit better.
In the end, the official name of the pant doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you found a pair that fits comfortably, breathes well and prepares you to face almost anything.
5.11 EMS Pants
Launched in the summer of 2008, 5.11’s take on the EMS pants ($49.99 MSRP) of course include its trademark rear slash pockets. With 12 pockets, the 7.25-ounce poly-cotton twill pants are Teflon treated and come in both men’s and women’s sizes for dark navy and black. The front pockets have an area to store coins and back pockets contain wallet pockets. And with “external EMS-specific” pockets, you know there’ll be a scissor pocket nearby. Double seat and knees, a tunneled waistband and gusseted crotch bolster durability and ensure mobility.
Propper’s CriticalEdge EMT Pants
Also made from a twill fabric, Propper’s CriticalEdge™ EMT Pants ($44.99 MSRP) at 8.5 ounces are a heavier weight than 5.11’s. Additionally this trouser features a dual six-way cargo/scissor pocket with a hidden zipper pocket at the top. We’re not sure what it means to have a six-way pocket, but perhaps that means there is six ways to store things? Or you can open it six ways? If you own a pair of these, let us know what this pocket is all about. All we can say for sure is that this pant has 15 pockets total. There’s also a gusseted diamond crotch, a tunneled waistband and reinforced knees. Watch the video below for the full set of features.
What do you keep in your six-way pocket?
Tru-Spec’s EMS BDU Trousers
Rounding out our EMS pant trio, Tru-Spec’s EMS BDU Trousers ($47.95 MSRP) only has six pockets. SIX! 5.11’s EMT pants have double that; Propper’s have even more. The right cargo pocket touts a scissor pocket with three slots attached to its outer shell. These slots have straps with snap closures that will keep your medical equipment intact no matter how much running around you do. Not to be outdone, the left pocket features a hook and loop closure (like Velcro) and is partially bellowed. There’s also DuPont Teflon Coating, reinforced knees and two adjustable waist tabs.
Now that you know the difference, which pants are you more likely to buy? Is a pocket designed specifically for trauma sheers an important feature?
Behind the Seams: G20 Protests, Police iPad and more
- Nebraska’s chief of police explores record management systems on the iPad. (The Chief’s Corner)
- Looking for the perfect tactical folding knife? Find the right one for police work. (Spartan Cops)
- Tampa policeman on horse rides through hookah bar. Yeehaw? (Positive LEO)
- The blogosphere says farewell to Mark Glencorse. (Medic999)
- Momma Fargo shows off a shiny cop car. (The Boogie Man Is My Friend…)
- Motorcop has a new look thanks to Happy Medic. (Motorcop)
- Remember that 15-pound laptop? Renee gives us a timeline of technology. (The Back of the Medic)
- Who doesn’t love the tactical kilt? (Sharp as a Marble)
- S.W.A.T. Magazine starts its second season. (Hott Cops)
- The Supreme Court rules for gun owners in Chicago handgun case. (Police Magazine)
- And a strange meme has popped up on the medic blogs. (Ms. Paramedic)