NCJ Number
80015
Journal
International Criminal Police Review Volume: 36 Issue: 347 Dated: (April 1981) Pages: 102-109
Date Published
1981
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article discusses optics and the manner in which informed criminals can use them for their own ends, such as to disguise their real appearance.
Abstract
Although many people, including criminals, wear spectacles to improve their sight, people can also use spectacles and lenses as disguises to conceal part of their faces and to transform their appearance. Any person with normal sight can appear to be short-sighted or long-sighted by wearing strong negative or positive contact lenses together with strong positive or negative spectacles. The wearer thus will retain perfectly normal sight while giving the impression of being short-sighted or long-sighted. In addition, contact lenses and microlenses allow persons to easily disguise their eye color instantly. Cosmetic lenses can even conceal a scar on the iris by providing the wearer with a lens with a painted iris. Damaged eyeglasses, found at the scene of a crime, may provide valuable evidence, as illustrated by a case history which occurred in Madrid, Spain. Terrorists in Spain have forced their victims to wear dark-tinted spectacles that completely block out the light and prevent the victims from seeing either their captors or the place where they are being held. Photographs are included.