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Op eds support eyewitness ID bill

The Austin Statesman has an editorial today about the Austin PD's adoption of best practices for photo lineups conducted by police, encouraging the Legislature to pass SB 117 (currently in House Calendars) requiring all law enforcement agencies using them to develop written policies:Both kinds of lineups, photo and live, lend themselves to abuse because relatively few police departments have written, updated policies about how they should be done. Often such procedures are passed along orally from one investigator to another. Bad habits are passed along with good ones. This is an antiquated, unprofessional way to do business. Some best practices that have emerged include making sure lineups feature people with similar appearances and that the investigators conducting the lineups are unaware of a suspect's identity...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on May 14, 2009 (boomark / email).