PORTRAIT PARLE

Alphonse Bertillion
 Father of Personal Identification
 1882, became head of the identification
service in the office of the Prefect of Police
 Spread a new system of identification called
anthropometry
 Combined portrait parle with anthropometry
Anthropometry
 Anthropometry is a very old science which
relates to the measurement of body
dimensions. These may be:
◦ lengths (e.g. the length of the thigh bone or
femur),
◦ breadths (e.g. the width across the shoulders),
◦ common measurements ( e.g. stature or height
and mass or weight)
◦ measurement of skinfold thickness at various
sites on the body (e.g. at the back of the upper
arm, tricep skinfold).
Portrait Parle
 Literally means 'word picture'
 Method of describing people verbally
 Included in Bertillion's identification system
 Foundation of present-day description of
criminals and non-criminals
INTRODUCTION

PORTRAIT PARLE:
These two French words mean “speaking likeness”.
Portrait Parle can be defined as a rigorous system
for verbal description of physical characteristics of the
subject. It is based on the Bertillon method of criminal
identification by measurements of the human body and is
still in practice today to some extent.
A distinctive description of every feature of the
face and head are especially valuable for investigation,
especially when a set of the suspect's fingerprints
is not available in his file.
 In order to recognize individuals who were repeatedly
arrested, Bertillon developed means by which portraits
could be sorted by common morphological
characteristics—the specific shapes of the different
parts of the face—and thus an individual’s prior photo
could be found without having to resort to browsing
through large collections of portraits. This classification
is known as the “portrait parlé” or spoken portrait.
 HISTORY OF PORTRAIT PARLE
 In 1882, Alphonse Bertillon, also called “Father of Scientific
Detection” said that anthropology could be invoked to aid in
the sight recognisation and identification of criminals.
 Employing these methods of scientific description, he
worked out a system of identification, utilizing 11skeletal
measurements which are practicably unchanged after
maturity and are not affected by increase or loss of weight.

Alphonse Bertillon
 (1853-1914)
 His classification provided a basis for modern recall
system that would aid the artist in producing sketches
as well as the development of composite kits, catalogs
and computer systems.

 Originally, he meant for the catalogue to

be an identification aid for recognition of
local prisoners but later it was found to
be useful for obtaining description of
unknown suspects also.
 Bertillon stated from the observations that human bone
structure was more or less absolutely fixed by the age
of 20, and that the skeleton varied tremendously in its
dimensions between one person and another.
 The portrait parle system also known as
Bertillonage, had a major impact on criminology,
specially in its native France.
 It was not until 1882, however, that Bertillon was given the
opportunity to prove the validity of his system in the eyes of
the Prefect of Police.
 After 3 month trial period, he was able to identify a repeat
offender by proving that the man, who had just been caught
on the scene of theft, had indeed been arrested sometime
before.
Despite using a false identity, the criminal
was betrayed by his own body measurements and
quickly confessed.
 ADVANCEMENT OF BERTILLONAGE

 Whereas the anthropometric system made it possible to

distinguish between two distinct individuals, it did not
bring irrefutable proof of an individual’s identity.
 While not fully managing to fix this major flaw, Bertillon
designed an incremental physical description card also
called the Bertillon card, comprising of four areas:
 anthropometry- a field he enriched with new
topological descriptions of ear, nose and iris.
 An incremental- a detailed physical description method
which formed the basis of portrait parle.
 photographic description- which he continually
enhanced by defining a general protocol for face.
 An inventory and precise mapping of all specific
marks to be found on the body- scars, tattoos,
moles and the like.
 The Bertillon card included spaces for
description of the prisoner’s
 eyes,
 ears,
 lips,
 beard,
 hair color,
 skin color,
 ethnicity,
 forehead,
 nose
 chin
 general contour of head
 hair growth pattern
 eyebrows
 eyeballs and orbit
 mouth
 neck
 inclination of shoulders
 attitude
 Voice
 language
 habiliments
 BERTILLON CARD
The Bertillon card included two photographs, one face-on and one in profile.
25 TRAITS DESCRIBED IN BERTILLON
CARD:
 Gender
 Face shape
 Chin shape
 Skin color
 Hair type (curly, wavy, straight)
 Widow’s peak
 Color of eyebrows
 Eyebrow thickness
 Eyebrow placement
 Eye color
 Eye’s distance apart
 Eye size
 Eye shape
 Eyelash length
 Mouth size
 Lip thickness
 Nose size
 Nose shape
 Nostril shape
 Earlobe attachment
 Ear pits
 Hairy ears
 Cheek freckles
 Forehead freckles
 Hair color
DESCRIPTION OF FOLLOWING FEATURES
CONSIDERED IN PORTRAIT PARLE:

 FACE: oblong, oval, round, rectangular, square, triangular, diamond

 WIDOW’S PEAK:
 SKIN COLOR: very fair, fair white skin, light brown, moderate
brown, dark brown, deeply pigmented dark brown to black.

 HAIR TYPES : straight, wavy, curly, coils, undefined coils

EYES: round, almond, droopy, droopy hooded, Asian, round Asian etc.
EYE COLOR: gray, green, blue, honey, brown, black
• COLOR OF EYEBROWS: black, dark red, dark brown,
medium red, brown, light red, blonde, light blonde
 DISTANCE BETWEEN EYES: wide set, down
turned, almond eyes, close set eyes, hooded eyes, almond eyes.
 AVERAGE DISTANCE BETWEEN EYES:
Types of eyebrows: thin, natural, thick
EYE SHAPES: protruding eyes, small eyes,
sunken eyes
 BEARD STYLES: hollywoodian, old dutch, ducktail, winnfield,
pencil, anchor, handlebar, super mario, mutton chops to name a few.
 CHIN TYPES:
 TYPES OF NOSE:
 NOSE LENGTH:
 FOREHEAD AND CHEEK FRECKLES:
EARS: large, small, ear sticking in, ear
sticking out
HAIRY EAR:
TYPES OF LIPS: close points, flat tops, roller
coaster, large lower
 SAMPLE BERTILLON CARDS

Bertillon card for Thomas Conway, Measurements for Thomas Conway.

arrested for larceny (portraits), May 11, 1911.
 Bertillon card for May Walker,
Bertillon card for May Walker,
arrested for general theft
arrested for general theft
(measurements), September 8,
(portraits), September 8, 1910.
1910
DECLINE OF BERTILLONAGE
 The “portrait parle” method remained
prestigious for quite a while, as it was
believed that experienced police officers
were able to draw on it to “identify with
certainty a suspect who mingled with the
crowd”.
 However transmission of data was
difficult- despite and no agreement was
ever reached on the universal
terminology, which proved fatal to the
portrait parle.
FINGERPRINT KILLED THE BERTILLON
STAR

 The complexity of the Bertillon system- the

very thing that provided it with such
accurate and reliable data- also proved to be
its downfall: it was simply too cumbersome
to replicate with sufficient accuracy.
 A fingerprint is a physical sign that cannot be
falsified or disguised, and the mathematical
likelihood of two individuals having identical
fingerprints is infinitely small.
 HIMANSHI UPADHYAYA
 M.Sc FORENSIC SCIENCES (I SEM)