Criminal identification...

The scene:

You've just moved to a new town and although you know you are innocent... you find yourself lined up against a brick wall by a cop and having your picture taken.
Could be kind of scary.

Or, it could be that with visions of actor Robert Redford in your head and a potential Oscar award winning performance in your heart, you have agreed to be part of an act to help teach folks how to be a good eye witness at a crime scene!

Jim Lauridsen moved to Cannon Falls about eight months ago. His wife’s family lives here. (Although in some of the cold weather lately, he questioned as to why they couldn’t be living in Florida?)

Cannon Falls Assistant Police Chief, Rich Wisniewski, was teaching, How to be a Good Witness, to the Cannon Falls Area Citizens and Law Enforcement Partnership – TRIAD.
Wisniewski thought it would be good to have someone the group did not know sit in the meeting for a few minutes and then leave. He wanted the group to make eye contact with the “guest” and then later on they would try to identify him.
During the time the “guest” was there, Wisniewski led the discussion about what to look for in identifying a criminal. He emphasized that it was important to keep it simple.
If you are calling 911, give your location first – the street and town. Wisniewski warned, “Don’t try to get involved with the crime. Just be a good witness,” and you can remain anonymous.

Things to look for as a witness: the direction the criminal is going. And even a partial license plate can help. If weight is hard to gauge use slim, medium build, or heavy. For age use teenager, young adult, middle aged, etc. If you don’t know the exact color of his clothes just describe them as light or dark.
The discussion continued.

All of sudden, a cell phone rang. The “guest”, Jim, took his phone out and explained to the group that his wife’s car had broken down and he had to leave. The group went back to the study at hand.
It was a few minutes later that Wisniewski explained that the “guest” had been a “set-up”. Now he wanted the group to identify him.


They came up with details like his well-used baseball cap. Ray Kimmes wryly kidded, “The kind I’d wear to the barn!” The group continued, he had a tan or yellow shirt, dark pants, glasses, was tall and slim, had a receding hairline and was in his middle to late 30’s. Agnes Ward commented, “Nice looking.”
Glenn Schulz thought he was right handed. The group eyed him questioningly but were impressed when he explained, well, he held his coffee cup in his right hand and answered his cell phone with it.
Paul Schluter suggested he had boots on.

Wisniewski then had the group work on making a composite sketch of the man’s face with the computer program that was projected onto a large screen. They worked diligently on individual characteristics like the correct chin, nose, eyebrows, glasses, etc.
Wisniewski explained that a regular composite could take many hours to finish.
At the end of this limited session, the “guest”, Jim, was phoned to come back and they got to see how close they had come to identifying him. Jim felt complimented on their guessing his age as in his 30’s because he is actually 44.

The TRIAD group was encouraged and enthused as to their potential as good eye witnesses. A trait they might keep on practicing… just to keep a person aware and just for fun.

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