Cops Hope To Catch Thief Using This Awful Sketch. Massive Fail, Says Twitter

Machines have certainly advanced a lot in the last few years. There's a lot computers can do but drawing perfect suspect sketches - still a big NO. A computer-generated sketch of a burglary suspect by a police department in the United Kingdom is currently the subject of immense ridicule on Twitter for its comical appearance. On Tuesday, Warwickshire Police released an "efit" (Electronic Facial Identification Technique) sketch seeking information about a man suspected of being a part of a distraction burglary in Stratford in February. According to police, two men posing as local officials entered a woman's flat. While one man spoke to the woman, the other searched the house and stole cash. Wearing a black skull cap and black sweatshirt, the wide-grinned AI-generated sketch was promptly mocked by Twitter for its resemblance to many cartoon characters. Sadly for the cops, Twitter offered no valuable leads as it was busy making jokes.
 

We've issued an efit for of a suspect in a distraction burglary in Stratford in February. If you have any information please contact us. https://t.co/NipFniL1ed pic.twitter.com/oGiYfxIi2e

— Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) April 3, 2018

The sketch went viral as netizens derided the hilarious digital creation. The tweet had collected 15,000 retweets and 2,500 responses at the time of writing this.
 

Theres something quite distinctive about this suspect, But i cant put my finger on it

— Macfearghais (@macfearghais1) April 4, 2018

Last seen walking this dog. pic.twitter.com/vVYk4ytrZO

— evilocity (@evilocity) April 3, 2018

Case is closed. I found your man in a pineapple under the sea. It was a real shocker. pic.twitter.com/dZ0lwJAw9K

— emily (@pure_howell) April 3, 2018

Times must be hard after his Banana Splits days. pic.twitter.com/U0XeU4G774

— karl newsome (@karlsn74) April 3, 2018

Spotted the fiend walking past my van earlier pic.twitter.com/uiQbVDqygI

— MACE (@macewhu69) April 3, 2018

His dentist should be able to ID him without films. pic.twitter.com/xMI1ni5aUF

— Laura Mcc (@lauraMcc1422) April 4, 2018

pic.twitter.com/gMP2AruMCX

— Support Amber (@voteforrudd) April 3, 2018

This is the description??? LOL No wonder they say eyewitnesses are unreliable! pic.twitter.com/zQrvjV7gYx

— Nikki Baby (@Never4gtDresden) April 3, 2018

Responding to the jeering on Twitter, the department clarified that the sketch was indeed real and based on the description provided by the victim. We are not sure how helpful the sketch would be but police hope all this attention thanks to the Internet will assist them in tracing the man.
 

We can confirm that this is real and that we anticipated the attention! But jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious as a woman was victim of a horrible crime. Hopefully the attention will mean we identify the offender/bring him to justice quicker

— Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) April 3, 2018

Though not all terrible sketches are a work of computers. Previously, an eyewitness sketch of a thief in Lancaster, UK went viral for being extremely cartoon-like. But surprisingly, police was able to identify the thief despite the eyewitness' poor drawing skills.