Previous version of our website: old.vfu.bg/en
Graduate from the master's degree programme in Forensic Expertise at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" in front of The Trud newspaper
11 Април 2025
A woman from the town of Veliko Tarnovo solves crimes using forensic video analysis, facial identification, phonoscopic examinations
Author: Vesselina Angelova, "Trud news", Veliko Tarnovo
Plamena Draganova is the only independent expert in these fields in the Veliko Tarnovo region, she also works as a professional photographer.
Plamena Draganova from Veliko Tarnovo is an active young lady with diverse interests from artistic photography to forensic analysis. Due to her extensive and in-depth knowledge, she is the only independent expert in the Veliko Tarnovo region and one of the few in the country in the fields of forensic video analysis, facial identification, phonoscopic examinations, and examination of communication devices.
Plamena Draganova holds a Master's degree in Law. She has completed the Master's programme in Forensic Expertise at Varna Free University, as well as all courses organized by the Faculty of Law - in video analysis and facial identification, forensic photography, forensic examination of mobile communications, as well as phonoscopic expertise. She is also a professional photographer. One of her hobbies is shooting with a short-barreled weapon.
She has been preparing forensic examinations for 10 years, and for the last 3 years this has been her main occupation. As a person with a highly developed sense of justice, she is strict in her analyses, insisting that they be objective and backed up with irrefutable evidence. In just one year, she has prepared 200 expert reports.
"My activity is mainly related to examinations in the course of pre-trial proceedings. These are mainly criminal cases. Forensic video analysis and facial identification are widely used," says Plamena Draganova.
She explains that forensic video analysis is related to analyzing video files or images provided for research. Most often, these are recordings from various sources - video surveillance cameras, specially filmed video recordings for a specific purpose, etc. The analysis of such material is a broad-spectrum activity and various tasks can be set for it. The aim may be to establish its authenticity and check for manipulation, the goal may be specifically filmed actions or movements, car license plates, the presence or absence of people, etc. "This implies extensive hard work. By appointing such an expert, the factual situation of the act can be objectified. The preparation of this type of expert opinion is not influenced by the evidence collected during the pre-trial proceedings, but only by what is presented in the video material," explains Plamena Draganova.
She specifies that very often in investigations, when the facts are word for word, the only way to reveal the truth is through expert opinions, the work of independent experts.
"Facial identification in most cases is a complex approach if it is assessed that there are frames suitable for analysis in a given video material. The interesting thing is that in addition to general private facial identification features, it is necessary to identify clothing and parts of the body of the filmed person," points out Plamena Draganova.
In practice, she encounters various cases, some of which are really curious. She tells about such a case related to the detection of a perpetrator of theft. A person was arrested, but it had to be proven that he was the author of the crimes. However, the camera footage showed very clearly that the man had skillfully hidden his identity using a balaclava, a hat, and black clothes, which this did not allow for facial identification. However, Plamena Draganova did not give up and continued to persistently examine the details in the video footage and look for a trace. The crime was committed in the summer and the man was wearing flip-flops. This attracted the attention of the resourceful expert.
“After carefully reviewing the footage, I was able to conduct an identification examination of his toes, which were extremely specific and he was recognized by them. So, because of his good disguise and the lack of eyewitnesses, the examination was the only way to prove that this person was connected to the assault. For this reason, the examinations are of exceptional help to the investigation, because most crimes do not have eyewitnesses,” says Plamena Draganova.
She adds that these results, however, are not possible without the good operational work of forensic scientists, because providing a comparative sample is important.
In order to be at a high professional level, Plamena Draganova invests in specialized equipment and devotes a large part of her time to improving her qualifications and building on her experience. She has completed numerous additional certification training courses such as 'Cybersecurity - Knights in Cyberspace', 'Dactoscopy - the science of handprints', 'Forensic methods for technical examination of documents, banknotes', 'Methodology for handwriting and authorship expertise', etc.
“The development of technologies is very fast, and for me this subject is extremely interesting”, emphasizes Plamena Draganova.
Using her knowledge in the field of phonoscopic research, she analyzes sound recordings, their identity, discovers sound specifics and any information that can be extracted.
“During the course, I was very impressed when I realized that an audio file that is heard as parasitic noise actually contains coded text and it can be transmitted as a message. Such an audio file is prepared with special software and is read with specialized software. It should be clear that recently, perpetrators of crimes have become increasingly inventive. Therefore, this matter is vast and there is room for development in this specific area,” says Plamena Draganova.
When asked how many people have been convicted, thanks to her analyses with undeniable facts, she is categorical that in over 90% of cases, people have been charged with crimes.
"Expertise is only part of the entire process of proving the act, but it is of key importance because it produces results. The main motivation of experts to engage in this activity is to be useful in revealing the truth. Ultimately, the experts' conclusion has the greatest weight in a trial, because it refers to indisputable evidence. There are cases of drastic discrepancies in what was captured by cameras and witness testimonies. This most often happens in work accidents. Whether out of pure human solidarity, because of the shock experienced by what happened, or because of subjective perception, witnesses sometimes describe a dramatic development of events and almost a fatal outcome, while the recording shows how the worker falls and after seconds gets up on his own and moves without a problem," says Plamena Draganova.
When she testifies in court hearings on the expert reports assigned and prepared by her, no defendant managed to escape their punishment.
She is also working diligently on improving her methods of examining communication devices. She is interested in technologies that can be applied to the recovery of deleted messages and correspondence, as they are often of key importance for a given investigation. Specialized software, which is expensive, not widely available and not freely sold is usually used. The selling companies require verification of the person who buys the software product and purpose it is bought for.
According to the expert, the time for preparing an expertise varies. This depends on the material provided for research.
“For example, when investigating a series of shoplifting incidents, I had to review more than 120 hours of recordings. To establish the specific actions and movements of the individuals, to find out when exactly they committed the illegal acts. This was a very large-scale, round-the-clock work within three weeks,” explains Plamena Draganova.
She does not hide that she was most shaken when she performed forensic art examinations related to the identification of pornographic content, mainly child pornography.
“However, I am happy that all the cases I have worked on with this type of case ended in convictions,” said Plamena Draganova categorically.
As a person who graduated from Law, she knows that guilt must be proven in several ways. She said that each examination is a valuable experience for her.
“New technologies in forensic investigations are of exceptional importance, but one should not trust them too much. It is important to use them to extract the maximum amount of data, and the analysis and summary is done only by the expert, based on his experience and knowledge. And when examining different data, it is good to use at least two different independent software products,” concludes the experienced expert Plamena Draganova.
Author: Vesselina Angelova, "Trud news", Veliko Tarnovo
Plamena Draganova is the only independent expert in these fields in the Veliko Tarnovo region, she also works as a professional photographer.
Plamena Draganova from Veliko Tarnovo is an active young lady with diverse interests from artistic photography to forensic analysis. Due to her extensive and in-depth knowledge, she is the only independent expert in the Veliko Tarnovo region and one of the few in the country in the fields of forensic video analysis, facial identification, phonoscopic examinations, and examination of communication devices.
Plamena Draganova holds a Master's degree in Law. She has completed the Master's programme in Forensic Expertise at Varna Free University, as well as all courses organized by the Faculty of Law - in video analysis and facial identification, forensic photography, forensic examination of mobile communications, as well as phonoscopic expertise. She is also a professional photographer. One of her hobbies is shooting with a short-barreled weapon.
She has been preparing forensic examinations for 10 years, and for the last 3 years this has been her main occupation. As a person with a highly developed sense of justice, she is strict in her analyses, insisting that they be objective and backed up with irrefutable evidence. In just one year, she has prepared 200 expert reports.
"My activity is mainly related to examinations in the course of pre-trial proceedings. These are mainly criminal cases. Forensic video analysis and facial identification are widely used," says Plamena Draganova.
She explains that forensic video analysis is related to analyzing video files or images provided for research. Most often, these are recordings from various sources - video surveillance cameras, specially filmed video recordings for a specific purpose, etc. The analysis of such material is a broad-spectrum activity and various tasks can be set for it. The aim may be to establish its authenticity and check for manipulation, the goal may be specifically filmed actions or movements, car license plates, the presence or absence of people, etc. "This implies extensive hard work. By appointing such an expert, the factual situation of the act can be objectified. The preparation of this type of expert opinion is not influenced by the evidence collected during the pre-trial proceedings, but only by what is presented in the video material," explains Plamena Draganova.
She specifies that very often in investigations, when the facts are word for word, the only way to reveal the truth is through expert opinions, the work of independent experts.
"Facial identification in most cases is a complex approach if it is assessed that there are frames suitable for analysis in a given video material. The interesting thing is that in addition to general private facial identification features, it is necessary to identify clothing and parts of the body of the filmed person," points out Plamena Draganova.
In practice, she encounters various cases, some of which are really curious. She tells about such a case related to the detection of a perpetrator of theft. A person was arrested, but it had to be proven that he was the author of the crimes. However, the camera footage showed very clearly that the man had skillfully hidden his identity using a balaclava, a hat, and black clothes, which this did not allow for facial identification. However, Plamena Draganova did not give up and continued to persistently examine the details in the video footage and look for a trace. The crime was committed in the summer and the man was wearing flip-flops. This attracted the attention of the resourceful expert.
“After carefully reviewing the footage, I was able to conduct an identification examination of his toes, which were extremely specific and he was recognized by them. So, because of his good disguise and the lack of eyewitnesses, the examination was the only way to prove that this person was connected to the assault. For this reason, the examinations are of exceptional help to the investigation, because most crimes do not have eyewitnesses,” says Plamena Draganova.
She adds that these results, however, are not possible without the good operational work of forensic scientists, because providing a comparative sample is important.
In order to be at a high professional level, Plamena Draganova invests in specialized equipment and devotes a large part of her time to improving her qualifications and building on her experience. She has completed numerous additional certification training courses such as 'Cybersecurity - Knights in Cyberspace', 'Dactoscopy - the science of handprints', 'Forensic methods for technical examination of documents, banknotes', 'Methodology for handwriting and authorship expertise', etc.
“The development of technologies is very fast, and for me this subject is extremely interesting”, emphasizes Plamena Draganova.
Using her knowledge in the field of phonoscopic research, she analyzes sound recordings, their identity, discovers sound specifics and any information that can be extracted.
“During the course, I was very impressed when I realized that an audio file that is heard as parasitic noise actually contains coded text and it can be transmitted as a message. Such an audio file is prepared with special software and is read with specialized software. It should be clear that recently, perpetrators of crimes have become increasingly inventive. Therefore, this matter is vast and there is room for development in this specific area,” says Plamena Draganova.
When asked how many people have been convicted, thanks to her analyses with undeniable facts, she is categorical that in over 90% of cases, people have been charged with crimes.
"Expertise is only part of the entire process of proving the act, but it is of key importance because it produces results. The main motivation of experts to engage in this activity is to be useful in revealing the truth. Ultimately, the experts' conclusion has the greatest weight in a trial, because it refers to indisputable evidence. There are cases of drastic discrepancies in what was captured by cameras and witness testimonies. This most often happens in work accidents. Whether out of pure human solidarity, because of the shock experienced by what happened, or because of subjective perception, witnesses sometimes describe a dramatic development of events and almost a fatal outcome, while the recording shows how the worker falls and after seconds gets up on his own and moves without a problem," says Plamena Draganova.
When she testifies in court hearings on the expert reports assigned and prepared by her, no defendant managed to escape their punishment.
She is also working diligently on improving her methods of examining communication devices. She is interested in technologies that can be applied to the recovery of deleted messages and correspondence, as they are often of key importance for a given investigation. Specialized software, which is expensive, not widely available and not freely sold is usually used. The selling companies require verification of the person who buys the software product and purpose it is bought for.
According to the expert, the time for preparing an expertise varies. This depends on the material provided for research.
“For example, when investigating a series of shoplifting incidents, I had to review more than 120 hours of recordings. To establish the specific actions and movements of the individuals, to find out when exactly they committed the illegal acts. This was a very large-scale, round-the-clock work within three weeks,” explains Plamena Draganova.
She does not hide that she was most shaken when she performed forensic art examinations related to the identification of pornographic content, mainly child pornography.
“However, I am happy that all the cases I have worked on with this type of case ended in convictions,” said Plamena Draganova categorically.
As a person who graduated from Law, she knows that guilt must be proven in several ways. She said that each examination is a valuable experience for her.
“New technologies in forensic investigations are of exceptional importance, but one should not trust them too much. It is important to use them to extract the maximum amount of data, and the analysis and summary is done only by the expert, based on his experience and knowledge. And when examining different data, it is good to use at least two different independent software products,” concludes the experienced expert Plamena Draganova.