EMERGING FORENSIC FACE MATCHING TECHNOLOGY TO APPREHEND CRIMINALS:: A SURVEY

To determine the identity of criminals, progress in biometric technology has provided law enforcement agencies additional tools. However, many crimes occur where none of the information is present, but instead an eyewitness account of the crime is available. In these circumstances, a forensic artist is often used to work with the witness in order to draw a sketch that depicts the facial appearance of the culprit according to the verbal description. Once the sketch image of the transgressor is complete, it is then disseminated to law enforcement officers and media outlets with the hopes of someone knowing the suspect. These sketches are known as forensic sketches. Criminal face detection and matching is a forensic technique that has been routinely used in criminal investigation. So there is an urgent need for integration of sketch matching system which can fulfill the requirement of legal systems. With the rapid increase in the number of surveillance cameras and mobile devices with built in cameras, the forensic world is changing, and the progress in face matching is help to lead the way. This paper provides an up-to-date critical survey of still- and video-based face matching research. To provide a comprehensive survey, not only categorize existing matching techniques but also present detailed descriptions of representative methods within each category. In addition, relevant topics such as issues of illumination and pose variation are covered. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]