# Police Lineups **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 21, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299 "2006-11-21T16:24:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/1 "2006-11-21T16:24:27Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlineups.htm](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlineups.htm) Now that’s a staff report. Great work, **Bricker**. ---
**Author:** ![M.Meursault](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@M.Meursault](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/M.Meursault)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/2 "2006-11-21T16:37:22Z")
That is a marvelous staff report. Kudos **Bricker**. On an unrelated note, would you be willing to take my upcoming Criminal Procedure final for me? Puh-lease??? It’s going to be multiple choice and short answer. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/3 "2006-11-21T17:16:44Z")
Very nice, Bricker. As an addendum, I asked a local prosecutor recently where the additional photos for photographic lineups come from. They have a computer program that analyzes the facial characteristics and biographic data of a statewide database of mugshots and selects people with a general resemblance to the suspect. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/4 "2006-11-21T17:34:42Z")
Great report **Bricker**. I have an oddball trivial question. Has anyone ever been brought into a line-up as a filler that eventually turned out to be the actual criminal? Jim ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/5 "2006-11-21T18:07:56Z")
Very well done **Bricker**. I only have one question re: > [@](#): > > As I say, police commonly use volunteers from the pokey – they have the requisite beady eyes of the criminal class, after all, and are an easily-tapped resource. Why no mention of the sloping brow and cranial bumpage of the career criminal? ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/6 "2006-11-21T18:42:42Z")
Yes, very interesting read. One nitpick on the movie connection: > [@](#): > > The lineup can’t be unduly suggestive – you may recall the scene in The Usual Suspects where the accused is paraded in as part of a lineup, each of the other participants in which is a uniformed police officer. The lineup in _The Usual Suspects_ is the five titular felons, not one suspect plus four cops. The characters do express suspicion about it afterward, though: > [@](#): > > Keaton: This whole thing was a shakedown. > McManus: What makes you say that? > Keaton: How many times you been in a lineup? It’s always you and four dummies. PD pays homeless guys ten bucks a head sometimes. Is there a DVD with more bonus materials that I need to pick up? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/7 "2006-11-21T18:53:56Z")
Good article. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/8 "2006-11-21T19:05:55Z")
Nicely done, but someone’s math seems to be a bit off. > [@](#): > > In Wells’s classroom studies, the blind sequential lineup method reduced the number of times witnesses chose an innocent person, and did _not affect number of times they chose the right one_. If the method reduced wrong selections wouldn’t the correct selections have increased? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/9 "2006-11-21T19:22:55Z")
I must quote Chief Wiggum: “OK, boys. Send in the clowns.” Nice report. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/10 "2006-11-21T19:39:00Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] Nicely done, but someone’s math seems to be a bit off. If the method reduced wrong selections wouldn’t the correct selections have increased? [/QUOTE] Apparently not: [Does the Sequential Lineup Reduce Accurate Identifications in Addition to Reducing Mistaken Identifications? Yes, but…](http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/gwells/SequentialNotesonlossofhits.htm) by Wells. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/11 "2006-11-21T19:57:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Lindsay andWells (1985) devised an alternative lineup presentation procedure, sequential presentation, to reduce the tendency of eyewitnesses to rely on relative judgment.The sequential procedure presents the eyewitness with one lineup member at a time and, prior to being allowed to view the next member, requires the eyewitness to decide whether or not that person is the perpetrator. This one-at-a-time procedure is intended to discourage the eyewitness from simply deciding who looks most like the perpetrator. Although the eyewitness could decide that the lineup member being viewed currently looks more like the perpetrator than did the previous person, the eyewitness cannot be sure that the next (not yet viewed) person does not look even more like the perpetrator. Lindsay and Wells reasoned that this would force eyewitnesses to use a more “absolute” criterion (i.e., Is this the perpetrator or not?) rather than the relative-judgment criterion (i.e., Is this person more similar to the perpetrator than the other lineup members?). Their data showed that the simultaneous and sequential procedures produced nearly identical correct identification rates when the perpetrator was present in the lineup.When the lineup did not contain the perpetrator, however, the rate of mistaken identifications was 43% with the simultaneous procedure and only 17% with the sequential method. Other studies have shown that the sequential procedure is also less sensitive to lineup biases (Lindsay et al., 1991). [Steblay, N. M., Deisert, J., Fulero, S. & Lindsay, R.C.L. (2001). Eyewitness accuracy rates in sequential and simultaneous lineup presentations: A meta-analytic comparison. Law and Human Behavior, 25, 459-474.](http://www.springerlink.com/content/n1574627h45021k2/fulltext.pdf) (pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/12 "2006-11-21T20:19:59Z")
Here is Gary Wells’s website, which has a bunch of stuff about eyewitness identification: [http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/FACULTY/gwells/homepage.htm](http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/FACULTY/gwells/homepage.htm) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/13 "2006-11-21T23:19:58Z")
> [@](#): > > If the method reduced wrong selections wouldn’t the correct selections have increased? Only if there were just two situations, wrong answers and right answers. But there’s also the case where the witness doesn’t (or can’t) pick anyone from the lineup – that’s neither wrong nor right And congrats, **bricker** , on another superb report! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/14 "2006-11-22T01:09:42Z")
That was an excellent report, **Bricker** , let my voice be added! I was especially interested in the descriptions of how photo lineups would be handled, because of a persona experience. I was once attacked, in my own home, by a stranger that broke in. Went through the usual descriptions to the police and so on. Week and a half later the police call one evening and say they have some pictures they’d like me to view, like, right away. So I say sure, and they bring them to my house. Six photos as I recall, fitting the age, race, and so ons. I looked at them all at once, and as I recall the officers didn’t try to lead me at all, not really speaking. So I pointed out the one as looking just like the guy who attacked me, and when I did I noticed the officers seemed to “deflate” a little. They thanked me, took the pictures and left, and I never heard from them again. But in the paper the next morning there was news about a murder in town, with a photograph of the suspect, and I recognized him too, as one of the other guys in the set of pictures. So I think they were trying not to help me, but were hoping they’d have something even more on the murder suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/15 "2006-11-22T04:29:45Z")
Though the reference to _The Usual Suspects_ is in error (in an otherwise informative and entertaining report), Bricker may have been thinking of a 1996 episode of _Law & Order_ (“Remand”) in which a rape/attempted murder case from thirty years earlier must be retried. The accused’s attorney disparages the police lineup procedure of the sixties, in which the Hispanic suspect was in a line with “five Irish cops.” Abe Vigoda played one of the long-retired original investigators, I mention for the heck of it. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/16 "2006-11-22T13:38:48Z")
Excellent report, thank you Bricker. Just the right mix of crisp fact, visible support, and wise-ass commentary. Keep it up. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/17 "2006-11-22T14:36:53Z")
I’m going to have to figure out what movie I’m thinking of – for years I have told the “Usual Suspects” lineup story, and although I remain convinced it was something I actually saw in a movie, I am beginning to think it might _possibly_ not have been in The Usual Suspects. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/18 "2006-11-22T14:57:06Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] I’m going to have to figure out what movie I’m thinking of – for years I have told the “Usual Suspects” lineup story, and although I remain convinced it was something I actually saw in a movie, I am beginning to think it might _possibly_ not have been in The Usual Suspects. [/QUOTE] WAG here. The idea of having uniformed cops in a lineup (and I think I remember seeing it too) is so crazy it is almost slapstick–a sight gag. Like something from one of the \*Police Academy \* or \*Naked Gun \* movies. It’s funny because even someone who believes some of the more common legal urban legends will see that it’s crazy. I’d start looking there. OTOH, I’m pretty sure I’ve read some cases about lineups that come close to this (suspect is the only member of racial group described by witness, suspect is much taller or shorter than fillers, suspect is dressed as described–others are not). The funny bit in \*Usual Suspects \* was the way the actors played the “gimme the keys” (or whatever it was) line during the lineup. ---
**Author:** ![circularlogic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@circularlogic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/circularlogic)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/19 "2006-11-22T15:48:55Z")
regarding [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlineups.htm](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlineups.htm) The movie with the police lineup containing one suspect and 4 uniformed police officers was “running scared” staring Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines. The Suspect was “Snake” played by Joe Pantoliano. The witness was Billy Crystal. “Thats the one. I’ll never forget his face, I saw it through the screen. You [bleep]!” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299/20 "2006-11-22T19:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] I’m going to have to figure out what movie I’m thinking of – for years I have told the “Usual Suspects” lineup story, and although I remain convinced it was something I actually saw in a movie, I am beginning to think it might _possibly_ not have been in The Usual Suspects. [/QUOTE] I remember a similar scene, and in my memory Billy Crystal is part of it. Looking through his filmography on IMDB, I think it’s probably [Running Scared.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091875/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-lineups/381299.md?page=2)