The Challenges Of Facial Image Comparison Use In Nigeria

Examining an appropriate justice system and effective law enforcement agencies in Nigeria, in the quest for the use of forensic science and various emerging technology trends like forensic facial image comparison is another pattern that requires a standard and formalized process. One of the challenges of insecurity is negligent use of facial image comparison method to detect, provide and prove recorded cases of crime in Nigeria by the law enforcement agencies. This paper is set out for the need of facial image comparison in all forensic purposes in resolving unsolved murder cases, examining crime scene cases and not excluding the condition of forensic units in Nigeria. Recommendations that the Nigerian law enforcement agencies be trained and properly equipped with necessary forensic equipments and tools for facial comparison examination as part of forensic general best practices to uncover perpetrators and in exonerating victims in our society.

Introduction

Forensic Science is a science and art related field of study that is related to or used in the law court for formal public debate or discussion. Forensic science involves the detection, collection, analysis and interpretation of finger, foot and shoe prints/marks and DNA to reconstruct and investigate incidents or crime scenes to assist policy makers in prosecuting offenders and exonerating the innocent; it is a discipline of science, law and technology combined together whose purpose is to help solve criminal cases presenting them as evidence for court or to the law court. Forensics has become a culture in countries like the US, UK, Denmark, Australia, Germany, Norway, The Netherlands and other developed countries use without much question to find criminals involved in a crime scene and exonerate victims, usually used in most courtroom cases. There are various specialities and sub-specialities in the forensic discipline such as Accounting, Anthropology, Ballistics, Chemistry, Computer, Dentistry, Documentation, Engineering, Nursing, Psychiatry, and Psychology.

In the US specifically, the National Research Council (NRC) recommended massive overhauling of their entire forensic system, standardizing their forensic disciplines, with cohesive tightening of laboratories and individuals, boosting forensics scientific research through in increased funding in its report “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward” (NIFST). There is a rising demand in the use of forensics in solving crime around the world and various technology trends involved which improves them for the law enforcement agencies and the justice system to function on. Though in Nigeria, its justice system and law enforcement have not embraced the use of forensic science and the standards involved; thus these are an inefficient and ineffective factors why they have not been able in resolving crime and murder cases especially homicide and assassination which do occur annually.

Forensic Facial Image Comparison and Facial image Comparison are an interchangeably used words to specifically define the use of human face in a photographic template which is also known as photographs or videos to study and identify suspects, victims or persons involved in a crime scene for an evidence proof in the court of law. This paper presents an overview, from the standpoint facial image comparison for evidence in a court of law, trends and challenges that may hinder such. This paper also outlines strategies based on measures taken by other countries to address these challenges, and therefore considers it as an opportunity to propose new ambitious and enlarged area of forensic science thereby contributing to policing of crime within the spheres of the military and law enforcement agencies.

Methodological Review

The study adopted historical analyses to examine the impact of forensic facial image comparison and how its negligence negates judiciary performance and legitimacy questions for Nigeria’s adoption. Thus, this study used the secondary sources of data as its methodological components.

Definition of Operational Terms

Forensic Science: The use or an application of science principles, techniques and methods to investigate crime and presented in a law court. Facial Image Comparison: (also called forensic facial image comparison).

Facial recognition. Evidence: This is often items or objects collected by an officer or forensic expert from crime scene to be analyzed in crime labs for further investigations. Biometrics and Biometric Industry: Biometrics are hidden marks or nomenclature imbedded in humans, so minute which defines each individual and no two persons can have same of such. While this is an agency or a specialized organization with network of professionals especially in the security sector whose expertise involves collection, storage, processing/evaluation and recognition of face, fingerprints, hand geometry, palm prints, iris, voice, signature, gait and keystroke dynamics and not excluding lip prints.

Empirical Review

Forensic Facial Image Comparison Application

According to Ribaux et al. (), the three roles of forensic science are for investigation, evaluation and intelligence. Forensic science has grown wide enough as a field, with so many sub-fields emerging from it, such being beneficial in the medical, security, law and jurisprudence and not excluding the engineering world, the use of facial image in the field of forensic is not really like a new phase of development but with the collective efforts of forensic anthropology and various fields like mathematics and engineering.

According to White, et al. (2015), reported the first systemic assessment of face matching performance expertise by diverse group of international forensic examiners. This form of facial assessment showed that identification performance in six experiments placed examiners over control and students, and examiner performance exceeded normative levels, this also led to two qualitative differences between examiners and non-expert groups. In other for best practices regarding facial image comparison, the European Network of Forensic Science Institute (ENFSI, 2018) published a manual to help promote, monitor and encourage the harmonization of facial image comparison among the forensic science community. The use of facial image comparison as a biometric marker in identification methods of persons involves, the capturing and storage of individual’s face, voice and iris as a photographic forensic evidence which have become part of the digital toolkit of forensics; thus a completely new forensic area have been developed and widely used by expert witnesses providing opinion testimony as whether two images could depict same person or not. Notwithstanding, this area in forensics have expanded and have yielded positive impact tantamount to digital forensics (cybercrime prevention), but there is little recognitions in the country today.

Captain Kevin L. Weise, in Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin (2009) reported on the how photographs proved positive in collection of evidence regarding detainee for the Iraq court of law. Thus, in forensics, a photograph enhancement and comparison not excluding video images being obtained in crime scene in the course of investigation for court cases have been beneficial in evidence admissibility, by security experts or persons specialized in the techniques therefore treated as forensic analytical evidence in gathering intelligence for the purpose of meeting-up the recent challenges in the 21st Century world.

Facial Image Comparison according to researches is a method that involves the ability to acquire rightful evidence especially at scenes of crime, improvements have been narrowed to how the use of facial image comparison could be helpful enough in meeting demands in the world, where image of subjects are compared and determined if they are the same. With the quest of the American Society for Testing and Materials and the Forensic Institute Scientific Working Group (ASTM, 2018) on best practices for facial comparison feature; in the use of facial comparison method with biometric analysis, involved in forensic science in developing facial components and some morphological comparison methods, the new standard defines characteristics and descriptors to be considered in morphological facial comparison analysis or technique.

Factors That Affect Facial Image Comparison

According to UK Government, (2016) identifying an unknown individual from imagery such as CCTV is a task so complex, this identification can be impacted upon by numerous factors that may limit the image suitability for comparison, such as;

1. a. Low resolution (the number of pixels that make up the subject’s face).
2. b. Poor lighting leading to under or over exposure of the face.
3. c. Compression whereby the recording device removes fine feature detail in order to save recording space.
4. d. Non-matching camera angle (typically CCTV is captured from an elevated angle whereas custody mug shot images used as reference material in facial image comparison are captured perpendicular to the face).
5. e. The subject’s features are not distinctive in the population. Lack of knowledge of the prevalence of a set of observed features in the general population may lead to “identification” due to similarity. Thus, these factors interact on the facial appearance thereby causing two images of different people to become indistinguishable or introduce differences in appearance between different imagery of the same person.

1. Crime Increase: The Need to Stay Ahead

Researches of Forensic Laboratories and their results in countries like America, United Kingdom, India, Finland, Italy, Israel, Belgium and Germany are highly relied on with high standard quality where there are steady and constant developments where necessary. There are basically new trends in the field of forensics, with daily new research areas such as the forensic facial image comparison, which grew out from biometric concepts of identification of persons using a combination of traditionally fingerprints and DNA as markers in apprehending criminals and in exonerating accused victims of a crime. In Nigeria today, the rise in the rates of crimes being committed by persons are dynamic and this have affected citizens, with youths on the greater part. Daily cases of fresh crimes are being committed without a common trace and these have posed the country as being prone to corruption. Nte (2012), is of the view that this ugly nature can be mitigated and sees it needful for the use of forensic to be used in apprehension of criminals especially regarding unresolved murder cases, in this case it widely shares the perception of this paper of the importance of utilization of forensic facial image comparison to approach crime in Nigeria. Thus the following are such crimes;a. Kidnappingb. Human Trafficking and Sexual exploitationc. Unresolved murderd. Insurgencies and Terrorisme. Automobile hijack/theftf. Cybercrime offences (Internet fraud)g. Organized crimes (money laundering) Armed-robberyi. Drug crimes and Sexual assaultj. Arms smuggling (proliferation and sales of arms).

Challenges of Facial Image Comparison Use in Nigerian

• Bias/Nepotism
• Ethnic-political and religious sentiments
• Poor forensic training
• Lack of forensic tools and functional facilities (surveillance systems)
• Absence of Forensic monitoring bodies/organization and lack of standardization of forensic science
• Political instability and poor institutional framework
• Inter-agency rifts among the military and intelligence agencies
• Digital terrorism/Internet fraud
• Diversity problem resulting from ever-increasing ethnicity data volume
• Absence of human data volume (citizens’ database) caused by excess in-flow of immigrants
• Absence of R&D funding in forensic field.

Strategies to Improve Facial Image Comparison in Nigeria

To effectively incorporate forensics especially forensic facial image comparison into the Nigerian military and law enforcement agencies, the need to know its role is necessary; to recognize, preserve, collect, analyze, store and share such information for an actionable intelligence without bias/nepotism, ethnicity, religious of political sentiment towards.

1. Synergy in creating a databank/forensic fusion centre void of bias/nepotism
2. Re-equipping and retraining military and security agencies to meet up to the task
3. Equip state-of-art forensic facilities for R&D purposes
4. Enacting appropriately laws towards integrating forensic science specifically the use of facial image in intelligence led-policing of crimes in Nigeria
5. Embrace Forensic Standards Conformance and Best Practices of international repute.

Conclusion

Thus the use of forensics as a discipline have been helpful in order to combat a highly intelligent and adaptive enemy, its capability have been expanded thereby playing various integral roles across the war on terrorism, which includes intelligence functions, operational activities, force protection, personnel recovery, host nation legal support, and identity superiority functions.

This paper hereby concludes that there needs to be some action on the part of the legislatives and law enforcement officers by enforcing forensic education and training, legalities surrounding the use of facial image comparison as used by other developed nations in the fight against internal and any external crime without fear or favour. In addition, it suggests that forensic laboratories be properly equipped within agencies of the military and the law enforcement, with forensics facial image comparison as their specialty. Law enforcement needs to follow specific details in order to properly seize materials and this is just a larger responsibility with a larger networking environment. In this context, the author questioned if forensic facial image comparison be the saviour of Nigeria in solving the excessive crime faced by the nation in its entirety.