Facial Reconstruction

The Grand Ducal Police will host an international facial reconstruction training course in Luxembourg from 3 to 7 August. Police officers from the Benelux countries and the Greater Region will take part, alongside two officers from Abu Dhabi. The course was organised at the initiative of the Grand Ducal Police and will be supported by Joe Mullins of George Mason University's School of Forensic Science in the United States.[1]

The technique is mainly used in criminal investigations when victims can no longer be identified. Facial reconstruction makes it possible to model a person's face based on the structure of their skull, helping investigators establish their identity. In 2025, the Grand Ducal Police sent two officers to the United States for several weeks of training. They are now among the small number of police specialists in Europe able to use the technique.[1]

According to a police statement, the Grand Ducal Police has also established Europe's first official in-house police unit offering facial reconstruction services.[1]

A skull has no face. A person has a face. The skull is the structure. The face is the surface. When the person is dead and the person cannot be identified, the skull is all that is left. The forensic artist takes the skull and builds the face back, muscle by muscle, layer by layer, from the bone to the skin. The face that emerges is not a photograph. It is a possibility. It is: this could be the person. The person has a name. The name is somewhere. The face is the first step to the name. Luxembourg has two officers who can do this. They trained in the United States. They are among a small number in Europe. Next week, officers from Benelux and Abu Dhabi will come to Luxembourg to learn. The teacher is from George Mason University. The first in-house police facial reconstruction unit in Europe is in Luxembourg. The country is known for finance, for the EU, for quality of life. The country is also known for rebuilding faces from skulls.[1]