It is a dark night in the city and everything seems quiet. Drunken revellers stumble home, Kebab shop owners count their nights takings and a lone criminal stalks the streets. The assailant singles out one vulnerable student like a lion with a gazelle. Five minutes later it is all over for the victim, left for dead in the gutter.

Fast forward twenty four hours and Crimewatch is on. The attack has hit the papers and a reconstruction is required to try and jog people’s short chemical riddled memories. Many people have seen these reconstructions but few know the process that happens to bring a crime to life. This article aims to shed some light on this largely mysterious media technique.

1. Anonymity

It is important all involved parties are protected, even those actors participating in the reconstruction. It is also vital that these actors do not have any form of likeness to the criminal or the victim as this could cause a memory imbalance or “Madeline McCann hysteria” in the viewers and block the telephone lines. Here is a picture of a criminal and another picture highlighting what the actor should look like:

The Criminal

The Actor

Notice the key differences here: The criminal is wearing a hooded top or “hoodie” with a baseball cap. In contrast the actor is wearing standard non-threatening attire. The criminal is clearly brandishing a weapon where as the actor is enjoying a cold alcohol based beverage. These differences are implemented on purpose to trick the criminal into thinking that they were not seen and that they are in the clear. Note: It is also required that the actor has a completely different accent to the actual criminal. E.g: If the criminal is Welsh, the actor should have a London based or Scandinavian accent.

2. Time of Day

The colour wheel principle works well here. If the attack occurred at night, the reconstruction will take place in broad daylight. This is to try and confuse the watching criminal into thinking the reconstruction is about a different crime. The hope is that they will come forward to correct the producers and be caught.

3. Gratuitous Violence

The modern day Crimewatch viewer has a Bronstein’s viewer span of 3 which roughly equates to about five minutes viewing per hour. It is therefore important to use a certain artistic license to retain the viewer’s interest. Here is an example of the reconstruction scene after a standard burglary:

At first glance, this looks like a real crime scene photo taken straight from the likes of CSI or The X-Files. However if you look closer you can see that it was in fact a staged photo intended to shock the viewer so they continue watching. The most obvious detail is the fake blood. This is due to budget shortages at the BBC that were caused by the Blue Peter cocaine scandal of 2001. Another subtle but important difference is the reference number at the top right of the picture. Since 2004 the police have used code words instead of reference numbers. For example in this case instead of “5628″ the word would be “Stabbykitchen”.

Conclusion:

A reconstruction is a very detailed process designed to bring criminals to justice without revealing their identity to the nation. Since the guidelines of crime reconstruction were published in the best selling book: How to catch a villian: Reconstruction 101, Success rates in catching the criminals involved have increased by over 83%.