Portland police used Photoshop to change suspect's picture

(AUGUST 23, 2019) Portland police recently used computer software to digitally remove tattoos from a suspect's photo.

Portland police suspected that Tyrone Lamont Allen was involved in four bank robberies. Allen has tattoos on his forehead and right cheek. However, no bank employee reported seeing tattoos on the robber's face. So when Portland police created a series of photos to show the employees, the police used Photoshop to change the suspect's image.

“I basically painted over the tattoos," said Mark Weber in court. “Almost like applying electronic makeup." He also said that he has done this several times in the past in other cases, but he did not keep records of the work.

The bank employees saw the altered photo along with photos of five other men who looked similar. The police did not tell the bank employees that they changed Allen's photo. Two employees chose Allen. Two employees chose other suspects.

The Portland police said they did not want Allen to stand out.

“The whole idea was to make Mr. Allen blend in -- so his photo wouldn’t stand out," said an attorney. “These procedures were prudent. They were appropriate."

Jules Epstein disagrees. Epstein is a law professor at Temple University. He is also an expert on eyewitness testimony ("eyewitness testimony" is a report by someone who saw something such as a crime or an accident happen).

Epstein said, “It’s unbelievable to me that police would ignore the fact that no teller has described a person with glaring tattoos and make this man into a possible suspect by covering them up. They’re increasing the risk of mistaken identity."

None of the surveillance images showed any tattoos. But a police detective said Allen could have used makeup to hide his tattoos. The detective also said in court that changing the photo might actually have been in Allen's favor.

The opposing attorney replied, “It is hard to fathom any photo array conduct that is more ‘suggestive’ than altering a source photograph for the sole purpose of making the investigation target look more like the perpetrator."

Another problem, some say, was that the changes that were made to the photo were never documented.

According to The Oregonian newspaper:

In a landmark ruling in 2012, the Oregon Supreme Court unanimously set a stricter standard for eyewitness identification evidence and shifted the burden to prosecutors to establish that the evidence is reliable and admissible in court. The court also noted that judges should independently assess the reliability of eyewitnesses.

In January 2017, months before Allen’s arrest, the U.S. Justice Department adopted new rules for agents with the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies on handling eyewitness identification and photo throw-downs.

When a suspect has a unique feature such as a scar or tattoo, agents should find so-called “filler” photos of people with a similar feature. If they can’t duplicate a suspect’s unique feature, then they can black it out and place a similar black mark on the other “filler” photos.

In any case, the guidelines say, any alterations to photos should be documented, as well as the reasons for doing so.

The judge will issue a decision soon.