The discussion emphasizes that witnesses vary in their viewpoints and memories, in part because of their varying perspectives regarding a crime. Thus, the victim may see only the assailant's eyes or the flash of a knife, while an uninvolved witness may see a completely different image. As a result, the victim and an uninvolved witness can disagree even about the basic appearance of a perpetrator. In addition, the police artist works under difficult circumstances, with no choice of when or where to work or the type of victim to interview. The text uses cases involving murder, rape, robbery, terrorism, and other crimes to demonstrate the challenges the police artist faces. Discussion of ways to improve skills of observation, drawings, and photographs are included.