In the mid seventies I worked for the Rochester Police Department in the plain clothes division. I’ve talked about before here so there will probably be some repetition. I was hired as a graphic artist and I had access to the mugshot files. In fact part of my job entailed making fliers of suspects and in some cases I was given these goofy composites. A detective met with someone who was a victim or witness and they put together this image that was made up of clear sheets with features printed on them. So the composite was a pile of plastic sheets paper clipped together.
I loved this job but they didn’t give me enough work. I brought the New Yorker to work. I was bored out of my mind. My doctor prescribed Valiums so I could relax but I didn’t really care for them. I skipped out to visit Brad Fox who worked as a guard in the county office building on Main Street. That’s the way it often is in the not for profit world.
I developed a fondness for mugshots and paint them in my spare time. I’m looking for better resources than the Crimestoppers page in the morning paper. Maybe I can get a part time job with Police Department.
Paul, would you like any pictures of the women with whom I’ve gone out?
paolo.
These composites are nice! Karen & I were just talking about WE magazine, do you remember WE? Crime report after crime report, & very specific detail on racial appearance. WE was like reading the crime radio channel, it was very popular & often read aloud & hotly debated at my family’s donut store on Lyell.
Anyway, that is some impressive work. Eerily familiar composite faces.
I think I do remember “We” but it is a faint picture. Was it a small black and white local thing? It seems like I remember seeing it around Midtown Plaza but it could be a false memory. It was lurid and creepy, right? I think I would rather just look at the faces on the Crimestoppers page.