"Ghost pictures"

A "ghost picture" (or to use the correct German word, a "Phantombild") is what is called, in the English-speaking world, an "identikit picture" or "photofit picture". Sometimes, such pictures of potential criminals are also called "artist's impression" and, if the image is the result of several eyewitness accounts, then they're called "facial composites".

Why have I raised the topic? Because I've been watching a lot of episodes of Die Rosenheim Cops on the ARD TV channel and witnesses are often asked to go with a police artist to make a "Phantombild". Often, they are so good that they look like photos. I wonder how accurate such images are in real life, though.

In the last century, there used to be a game show on UK TV called The Krypton Factor. One of the tasks the contestants had to do was watch a brief video clip and then identify one of the actors in that film from 9 people lined up in the studio. Now, the contestants knew what was coming and so were extra vigilant, but even they couldn't always identify the correct person.

So how can the people in crime series describe a person they happened to see for a second or two in such detail? I know, I know...it's not real life.

I'm pretty good at recognising people, but terrible at remembering names. I'll be watching some TV programme or film and think, "I've seen him/her before", and then it's off to IMDB to check which other productions I've seen them in. And I'm always right. Basically, I recognise people by their eyes. It's hard to change the eyes, whereas you can always have a "nose job", put make-up on or dye your hair or cut it.

Despite being pretty good at recognising people's faces again, I know that I couldn't describe anyone in enough detail to make an identikit picture - not even my parents. Not even my own face. I couldn't tell you the eye colour of anyone but myself. (Green with a tinge of brown.)

So hats off to those witnesses in Die Rosenheim Cops that are so excellent at describing faces they've only glimpsed for a second.