# Are there really police line-ups?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-police-line-ups/504327>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 26, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-police-line-ups/504327 "2009-07-26T16:38:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-police-line-ups/504327/21 "2009-07-27T17:58:58Z")

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> [@guizot](#):
>
> As far as _ **I** _ know. (I tend to sleepwalk.)

Are people always asking you if you know Tyler Durden?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-police-line-ups/504327/22 "2009-07-27T19:01:18Z")

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Quoth **aruvqan** :

> [@](#):
>
> I got ID’d as a murderer at one point in time … I was out to dinner with my BF and about 7 more cops at the time of the crime

Ah, so the police were covering it up, then! Dating a cop clearly has its advantages ;).

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-police-line-ups/504327/23 "2009-07-27T19:35:36Z")

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> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I picked someone out of a line-up in Texas one time.

Me too but it was from a stage in a strip club so I am not sure that has much relevance here.

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-police-line-ups/504327/24 "2009-07-27T19:42:55Z")

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> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Me too but it was from a stage in a strip club so I am not sure that has much relevance here.

Hmmm. Given my history, that ought to have been the way it was for me. But Alas! t’wasn’t.

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**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-police-line-ups/504327/25 "2009-07-28T07:35:20Z")

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> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> Are people always asking you if you know Tyler Durden?

Man, I really hate that guy.

Seriously, though, the cops were trying to match me to an ink jet printout photo from a low grade security camera. Even though the printout was lousy, it was obviously not me, I thought. But the cops didn’t think the same way.

Still, they handcuffed me, threw me in the back of a squad car, and took me downtown. They hadn’t told me what the crime was that they suspected me of committing. I thought it might have been burglary or robbery. Once they’d taken me to the fourth floor, they took me to a door that just said, “Homicide” on it. That’s when I really freaked out. Without saying a thing to me, they took me in and a detective had them put me in “The Tank,” which had a big window for identifying suspects through. They could easily have mistaken me for the person in the photo, it was so unclearly printed.

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