Police sketch absurdity raises questions

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Every once in a while, something you see on campus makes you question what people were thinking when they made certain decisions.

If you haven’t heard yet, there has been a handful of sexual assaults at Delta College.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SAN JOAQUIN DELTA COLLEGE POLICE DEPARTMENT
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SAN JOAQUIN DELTA COLLEGE POLICE DEPARTMENT

The most recent sexual assault happened on Oct. 9 when a woman was attacked by a man described as a Black male between the ages of 25 and 30.

On Oct. 17, Campus Police sent out an email to all Delta students, updating them on the incident and also giving a sketch of the man.

The suspect was five feet and 10 inches with brown eyes, and he was reported as wearing a black pullover sweat jacket, and having dirty teeth, bushy eyebrows, acne and body odor.

However, the sketch was less of a pencil sketch and more of an overly-photoshopped creation.

Many would assume that sketch artists are very talented at drawing an identifiable version of a suspect.

Well, Delta Police didn’t get the memo.

If you have seen the sketch, you probably thought it was a joke, but this was really the best they came up with.

They were basically asking students to be on the look out for Mr. Potato-Head with a hoodie, a beard and acne. Good luck finding that.

Other students had similar thoughts on seeing the sketch for the first time.

“I saw it the other day, and thought that this was a very early April Fools’ joke,” said Xavier Rico. “If this was really the guy’s face, I would go and apologize to the campus police myself for laughing at their terrific sketch.”

One student pointed out the cartoon-like aspect of the sketch.

“I thought it was the newest member of South Park,” said Joseph Thomas.

This sketch really does look like a South Park character.

Delta Police said it got assistance from a federal agency to produce the sketch of the suspect. It should have appeared more professional for the money that was spent.

“I think I’m going to go and become a sketch artist if this is really all they look for when it comes to talent,” said Thomas.

It’s almost like we’re playing “Where’s Waldo” in finding this suspect, but it might take a miracle for anyone to spot this Waldo on campus.

What the police need to do is to go back to the drawing board, forget about computer sketching and return to pencil sketches from talented artists.

If not then they might as well sketch a stick figure.

It would have the same effect.