MEDIA CONTACT: Charles Loebbaka at 847-491-4887 or c-loebbaka@northwestern.edu

July 6, 2004

Police Complete Forensic Art Course

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Eighteen police officers from 10 states, ranging from Alaska to Pennsylvania, recently completed the “Forensic Art Techniques: Mastering Composite Drawing” course at the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety.

They learned forensic art from the most successful police sketch artist in the world, Lois Gibson, whose composite sketches have led to the arrests of more than 950 suspects. Gibson, a 21-year veteran with the Houston Police Department (HPD), is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most successful forensic artist, and her work has been featured on crime-related TV shows, including “Unsolved Mysteries” and “America’s Most Wanted.”

When she was 22 years old and living in Los Angeles, Gibson was sexually assaulted and choked. She later was able to identify her attacker. Her personal history coupled with art studies at the University of Texas at Arlington led her to the career in which she has produced more than 3,600 drawings, done in pastels.

“Lois Gibson is one of the most dedicated criminal justice professionals I know,” said Captain Dale Brown, HPD Robbery Division. “Her unique ability to obtain a composite likeness of the suspect under extremely difficult circumstances is truly remarkable.”

In her popular weeklong course at Northwestern, Gibson covered topics critical to forensic art, including facial anatomy, biological variations of race, age and gender, and special interview techniques for retrieving memories of facial features from victims or witnesses. Gibson has been teaching the course twice a year at Northwestern since 1999.