GARY – Badge, gun, kneaded eraser?

Along with the usual equipment people expect a police officer to carry, Master Trooper Taylor Bryant uses tools more often found in the hands of artists, such as sketch pads and smudging pencils.

Bryant is an official sketch artist for the Indiana State Police. While most of his time is spent patrolling the roads, Bryant is tapped on occasion by law enforcement agencies across the state to draw faces of suspects. His most recent was the high-profile bi-state shooter who, authorities say, shot three men near Beecher, Ill., and Lowell the morning of Oct. 5, killing one and injuring two others.

“This is the first one that really had a lot of exposure,” Bryant said of the sketch, which appeared in newspapers, online and on television.

Bryant earned a degree in commercial art from the University of Evansville in 1987. After a tough time finding a job in his field, he headed into law enforcement and has been there for 20 years.

In 2008, he attended a three-week facial imaging training program with the FBI. There, he learned how to talk to witnesses and victims under stress and translate their descriptions into sketches.

The process usually takes three to four hours, but the bi-state shooter sketch took longer than five hours because Bryant was in the hospital room with a shooting victim, using his tray table for support and taking breaks so medical staff could tend to the victim.

The interaction starts with victims flipping through a picture book of facial features, choosing the eyes, nose, mouth and facial structure that best matches their recollection of the suspect. From there, Bryant draws a sketch and tweaks the features based on direction from victims. The official sketch, once approved by the victim, cannot be changed.

“This is another investigative tool for the case,” he said. “This puts you in the ballpark, gives people (an idea of) what to look for.”