"CORPUS CHRISTI — Starting Sept. 1, area law enforcement agencies will change the way they conduct suspect lineups.
District Attorney Mark Skurka gave a presentation Thursday afternoon at the Nueces County Courthouse for area agencies to review policies in legislation, passed last year, that details how law enforcement must conduct eyewitness identification policies."
The changes come after many errors in identification that have resulted in many exoneration's from DNA evidence. So under the new policy, the photos must be in separate individual folders and must be presented by a detective not on the case. Also the witness must confirm their reasons for identifying the photo in question on video or audio.
My personal belief formerly being in law enforcement, this is a good idea. It should help cut down on on witness contamination due to the witness taking cues from the detective's body language. Also since each photo is in a separate folder, the witness has to make a definitive decision. I have seen where a witness talked themselves out of id'ing a perp because she felt that the one young man looked clean cut, and she chose the photo of an undercover officer because he looked 'mean'. Anything which will help officers get the right perp, quicker, I'm all for.
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