Edmonton police are apologizing following public backlash over the service’s decision to release a composite sketch of a sexual assault suspect that was produced by using DNA phenotyping.
Earlier this week, the Edmonton Police Service said the composite sketch was compiled and released as a “last resort” in hopes of identifying a man wanted in violent sexual assault that happened in north central Edmonton in March 2019.
The sketch was produced by an American DNA technology company that uses DNA phenotyping to produce a “snapshot” composite sketch of the approximate appearance of the suspect based on DNA.
DNA phenotyping is the process of predicting physical appearance and ancestry from unidentified DNA evidence, the EPS explained.
Using DNA evidence, the company produced trait predictions for the man’s ancestry, eye colour, hair colour, skin colour, freckling and face shape.
Police said the composite sketch showed what the suspect may have looked like at 25 years old with an average body mass index of 22. Police said the default values were used because age and BMI cannot be determined by DNA.
The EPS stressed that the sketch was an approximation of the person’s appearance and was not an exact replica. Police said the suspect may be older, have different body composition and may have facial hair or a different hairstyle than shown in the composite sketch.
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The EPS said it exhausted all other investigative techniques to find the man responsible, adding there were no witnesses, no tips, no CCTV footage and no leads.
On Thursday morning, the officer responsible for overseeing the sexual assault section issued an apology.
Enyinnah Okere, who is also the COO of the EPS community safety and well-being bureau, said over the last couple of days “legitimate questions” have been raised about the suitability of the technology.
“The pushback has been the stigmatization… of a racialized community and criminalizing them with a broad photo like that,” Okere said.
“The potential that a visual profile can provide far too broad a characterization from within a racialized community and in this case, Edmonton’s Black community, was not something I adequately considered.
“There is an important need to balance the potential investigative value of a practice with the all too real risks and unintended consequences to marginalized communities.
“Any time we use a new technology — especially one that does raise concerns about profiling of a marginalized group — we cannot be careful enough in how we validate these efforts and fully, transparently consider the risks.”
Temitope Oriola, a professor of criminology and sociology at the University of Alberta, called the situation a “case of bad science meeting poor ethics.”
“It prioritized enforcement of the law over police legitimacy and harmful consequences for members of the public,” he said Thursday afternoon. “I’m glad they didn’t try to insult the intelligence of the public by claiming that they didn’t know that this could likely be an issue.
“We expect police to investigate crimes, to put out images of suspects in the hope that they might find some suspects and make arrests and prosecute them. But this particular image crossed a line and I believe they knew that and they should have known better.”
Oriola said DNA technology is an emerging science and at the moment, is not the most reliable. He said agencies should be careful when relying on this type of technology, and added that over time, the science will continue to be developed and perfected.
“Technological solutions are fine, but you have to be sure of what you’re getting,” Oriola said. “We can only hope that this technology gets improved and it becomes reasonable to use in the near future. I recognize that the science can be perfected — that tends to happen over time.”
Earlier this week, Global News spoke with a professor of justice studies at Mount Royal University who said there is a risk of racial profiling if the sketch is not all that accurate.
“We see the composite picture and then we automatically then assume it’s an accurate composite picture,” Doug King said on Tuesday.
“By putting a composite together we fix it in people’s minds that this is what the person is supposed to look like. So you have to guard against that because then the issue becomes, ‘I see someone who looks like that — my next door neighbour.’ And it turns out it has nothing to do with that person.”
Okere said police tried to balance the benefits and limits and of the phenotyping technique, adding he felt police were clear on its limits.
“We have heard legitimate external criticism and we have done our own gut checks internally to determine whether we got the balance right and, as a leader, I don’t think I did,” Okere said.
“While the tension I felt over this was very real, I prioritized the investigation — which in this case involved the pursuit of justice for the victim, herself a member of a racialized community, over the potential harm to the Black community. This was not an acceptable trade-off and I unreservedly apologize for this.”
Chief Dale McFee said while he was not involved in the decision to release the sketch, he supports his team for trying everything possible to solve the case.
“I saw the picture last night and unfortunately, that describes way too many people in our community,” McFee said.
“I think the generic portfolio in relation to that going out isn’t going to serve anybody any value. As a matter of fact, it could just lead to a whole bunch of confusion and take us off in different paths.”
The EPS has since removed the sketch from its news release, website and social media pages. It will also be reviewing its internal processes “to better ensure the appropriate, robust and stress-tested tools are in place to better inform our decisions on such matters going forward.”
Okere did not outright say the EPS would not use the technology going forward, but added processes would be put in place for how it’s used in the future.
The case in question dates back to March 10, 2019, when police said a woman was violently sexually assaulted and left in a field in north central Edmonton.
“She was just walking home and this suspect just randomly attacked her. It was a very violent occurrence where she was left in the middle of a field, in the snow, it was -27 C that night,’ Det. Colleen Maynes with the EPS sexual assault section said Tuesday.
“She sustained quite a few injuries and quite serious injuries.”
Okere said Thursday that the horrific sexual assault nearly caused the woman’s death.
“It is the type of case from which a victim may never fully recover, made worse by the fact that after two years, she has not received justice,” he said. “She deserves our continued efforts and focus, and we will not give up on our efforts for her.”
Okere said police have not received any tips in the case following the release of the photo on Tuesday.
Police said they will continue to seek justice for the victim in the case.
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