A former cop turns vague suspect descriptions into actionable images

Five years ago, Vincent and his wife Amber Russo, launched their new company; “FaceLogics”.  With a career in law enforcement spanning 30 years, Russo knows a thing or two about the value of good pictures when trying to identify a suspect.

Russo worked with both the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Augustine Police Department — experience that would not only teach him how to apply a science, but also provide him with introductions in the law enforcement community who would become early customers.

“What’s going to capture people’s attention?  Because, that’s the whole point of this,” Russo said in a recent televised interview.  “We’ve got to get this out there, and we want people to look at it.”

The Russo team primarily works with police departments in Florida and some in Georgia.  They help 120 police agencies narrow down the suspect pool right from a computer.  The hope is to expand beyond that.

Together with artists who work remotely from home, they help create photo lineups, allowing for a more neutralized image to assist in investigations.

“How are you going to put them in a lineup to where they’re not sticking out for the wrong reasons?” Russo said. “You want them to stick out, in a sense, for the right reasons. That’s what they look like.”

Composite sketches are a big part of the company business.  The company can also create facial reconstructions. These can be utilized in cold cases. The results speak for themselves.  FaceLogics can also make enhancements to surveillance footage so a suspect’s face or vehicle can be more easily recognized.  Russo showed reporters sketches from actual cases solved due to somebody seeing the subject, then looking at the composite and going, “wait a minute, is this the guy?”

 “He can sit down on the computer with the victim and create a sketch of that individual that night while the memory is fresh,” Fox said. “Which means that we’re able to be proactive in our efforts almost immediately.”

With his artists working remotely, they can get to work on a composite right away. Chief Barry Fox with the St. Augustine Police Department said that’s important because time matters.