Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), one of the renowned investigation departments of Bangladesh Police, wants to hire sketch artists for graphic representation of crime events, which has become a new feature of the organization.
The recent example of this initiative was seen on Monday (February 24) during a PBI press conference where they concluded that popular silver screen actor Salman Shah was not murdered, but committed suicide.
However, PBI, for the very first time in May 2019, used graphic representation, a commonly used tool by law enforcers around the world to re-enactment crime scenes, to better describe what happened to Nusrat Jahan Rafi, a madrasa student who was set on fire for filing a sexual harassment complaint.
With no objection from the court, this step by PBI has brought widespread appreciation from all quarters and thus they have decided to build a team of sketch artists instead of out sourcing that work which they claim is costlier.
Confirming the matter to Dhaka Tribune, PBI Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Banaj Kumar Majumder, said: "We have sent an application to the Ministry of Home Affairs for the recruitment of 47 sketch artists who will work permanently with us."
"Basically, the graphic recreation helps to refresh the memory of the investigative officer (IO) as well as helps to give the judge, prosecution and defence a clear idea regarding the place of the incident and the flow of events that led to the crime.
"If we have [sketch artists] people of our own, we could take them instantly to a crime scene and get necessary sketches done following the descriptions given by witnesses and victims as people tend to forget things with time," he added.
