Oklahoma police forensic artist Harvey Pratt to speak about his art today at Science Museum Oklahoma
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation police forensic artist Harvey Pratt shows a skull reconstruction. (Tulsa World Archives photo)
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Oklahoma City lecture to focus on art and science of solving crimes
Harvey Pratt loves a good mystery.
As the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s renowned police forensic artist, Pratt often gets involved in solving a variety of crimes and cases.
“A lot of people don’t realize the things that we’re capable of doing for investigations, specifically concerning unidentified remains,” he said.
“There is a lot of interest because there’s so much on the TV anymore with all the ‘CSI’ stuff. I get calls almost daily from some student that wants to know something about it, what we’re doing and how they can get a job. A lot of them want my job.”
The rural Guthrie resident will discuss and show slides of the various forensic art techniques he uses, including witness description drawings, skull reconstructions, age progressions and soft tissue reconstructions, at 7 tonight at Science Museum Oklahoma.
The lecture is part of a series offered in conjunction with the hands-on exhibition “Whodunit: The Science of Solving Crimes.” Bret Mahoney, the museum’s academic networking coordinator, said Pratt was instrumental in creating the forensic science exhibit. Pratt contributed a witness description interview and drawing and a skull reconstruction to “Whodunit.”
“They called me the storyteller in the exhibit,” he said. “It’s really been a success for them. They’ve had a huge amount of interest in the program. People are calling me regarding it all the time. …
“We need to educate people about what law enforcement does, and the Science Museum has done an awful lot to help promote law enforcement in those areas.”
A lifelong artist, Pratt joined the Midwest City Police Department in the 1960s. He did his first witness description drawing when a police captain was working on a homicide case and wasn’t sure an injured victim was going to live. He asked Pratt to talk to the victim and draw a picture of the suspect. The drawing led to the suspect’s capture and conviction.
Pratt, who joined the OSBI in 1972, continued to do double duty as an investigator and a forensic artist. He researched and refined his technique for drawing witness descriptions. He also researched and learned other forensic art techniques and innovated the method for creating soft tissue reconstructions of unidentified bodies.
“I make them look alive and uninjured … paint out the bullet wounds and the knife wounds and the burns and the cuts and open up the eyes. And make them look alive so they can be identified,” he said.
Pratt, 68, works both freehand and with computer programs. Some of the high-tech software available is prohibitively expensive, he said. Many of the techniques he has mastered over the past four decades can be used in different kinds of investigations; for instance, his age progressions might help track a fugitive or a missing person.
“We put beards on, and I take beards off and change things, put glasses on them and age them a little bit,” he said. “I do that by looking at photographs of their family, see how their family genetics change and follow those lines and follow the characteristics in their face. I might add a little weight or take a little weight, depending on how the family goes.”
The variety of artistic methods he gets to use keeps him on the job.
“That’s why I’m still in it. … I retired once, but I still enjoy coming to work,” said Pratt, who became the state’s only full-time forensic artist after retiring as OSBI assistant director in 1992.
Although tonight’s lecture will focus on his police work, Pratt also uses his artistic and analytical talents in other areas. A Southern Cheyenne traditional chief, Pratt explores his heritage by creating American Indian paintings, crafts and sculptures. Some of his paintings and woodcarvings are on view in the new downtown Red Earth Museum’s grand opening exhibit.
“That’s an honor. That’s a good deal. I’m glad they got down there. There’s a lot of activity down there and they’re going to have a lot of interest in downtown,” he said.
About three years ago, the California-based North American Bigfoot Search hired Pratt to do witness description interviews and drawings with credible people who claim to have seen Bigfoot.
“They sent me to about 10 states and I interviewed people and did drawings of what they saw. And the people I interviewed were firemen and policemen and game rangers and schoolteachers and business people, and they all told me their stories and gave me their descriptions,” he said.
“I think there’s something going. I’ve never seen … the being but there are some pretty credible people that have seen stuff. And one of these days there’s gonna be some physical evidence.”
He has illustrated two books on the subject, “The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California” and “Tribal Bigfoot,” both written by former police investigator David Paulides.
“I love a good mystery. And it is a mystery,” Pratt said. “If I close my mind as a forensic artist and as a police officer, then I’m not a very good investigator. So, I try to keep a very open mind about everything that I do.”
Going on
Harvey Pratt lecture: “Police Forensic Art”
When: 7 tonight; reception begins at 6 p.m.
Where: Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52.
Admission: Free.
Information: 602-3760, www.sciencemuseumok.com or www.harveypratt.com.
-BAM
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