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Think about some of the most high-profile historical criminal cases, ones that date back to the 1800s, like Jack the Ripper, or the outlaws of the Wild West, and even more recently, the Golden State Killer.

In each of these cases, police use sketches to try to identify the offenders.

A lot of the early drawings were fairly crude, more like artist's renditions of what evil looked like, versus accurate depictions of what witnesses saw.

But over the years, these drawings have dramatically improved.

Even now, police agencies all over the world use sketches when they don't know who committed the crime, when there's no surveillance video, only witness or victim accounts.

I've talked about these composite sketches in previous episodes. They can make a big difference in an investigation.

I was very excited because as we did that talk, I saw this guy sitting at the on top of the garbage can, the plastic garbage can, amongst 20 other people waiting for the bus.

And he had a shaved head, but it's certainly each that he looked a lot like my drawing.

They can also create huge problems if the sketches are too vague.

Probably from day one that the cops had drawing was released, we were backlogged by 500 tips for the next two years or more.

I'm Nancy Hicks, a crime reporter for Global Muse. Today, on Crime Beat, a special look at the art of forensic composite drawings.

This is Drawing Out a Suspect.

Ren Le Frenier is retired now, but for 35 years, he was an officer with the Calgary Police Service.

20 of those were as the detective. He's a tenacious investigator and spent many years working in the sex crimes unit.

That included work on several high profile historical cases.

During his time with CPS, Le Frenier was also a skilled composite sketch artist, a talent that really grew out of frustration.

For years, Le Frenier said he would look at the sketches that were released to the public.

He said they were too basic, not even close to life like.

So one day, he questioned an officer who was creating a sketch.

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