QUESTION
How Do You Address Photo Array Identifications When Witnesses Cannot Identify Suspects Due to Similar Appearances?
1:04:56
·
3 min
Council Member Holden inquires about the issue of witnesses struggling to identify suspects in photo arrays due to overly similar appearances among the choices presented. The discussion explores the integrity and intention behind ensuring witness confidence in identification, with a response highlighting the law's provision for re-administration of photo arrays and the augmentation of witness testimonies with modern technology such as neighborhood cameras and GPS data. This exchange emphasizes the evolving nature of investigative techniques and the collaborative effort to maintain the accuracy of witness identifications.
Robert Holden
1:04:56
Just I had an incident when I first got elected where somebody threatened to bomb my house, let's say, and it was.
1:05:05
And detective on the on the job came over with the computerized lineup or the photo array.
1:05:14
It was too good because, you know, a heavy set, bald man, white man, you know, with a double chin, let's say, I got every every one of those on the photo array looked identical and looked like the same person.
1:05:29
Now, that could be a problem because the the way the computer does it and nobody could do anything to change that, it can come up with people that look alike, obviously, and they do that.
1:05:41
That that is a problem when you're when you're the witness and you're looking at somebody from a 100 feet away.
1:05:48
So how do you how do you address that other than like you said the the real lineup, the the traditional lineup.
1:05:54
But what do you do in that case?
1:05:56
When the computer is too good?
Josh Levin
1:05:58
Well, I mean, here's the way I would put it.
1:06:00
I I I'm not sure.
1:06:01
We we care about the integrity of things.
1:06:03
We wanna get it right.
1:06:05
And so I'm not sure we see it as a problem to make sure that the witness is able to confidently say, alright, that's the guy.
1:06:15
We wanna have faith.
Robert Holden
1:06:17
I know.
1:06:17
But but there there where the person why I swore and I'm a visual person.
1:06:23
I'm in in yards, I thought it was the same person.
1:06:26
If you got the same you got 3 images or 4 images, the same person here.
1:06:31
So there are cases.
1:06:32
I mean, I I did speak to enough detectives when this system was changed, by the way.
1:06:37
You know, we did we kinda did away with the traditional lineup.
1:06:41
That they were frustrated because the witnesses couldn't really pick out that person because they look too identical.
1:06:47
So that they're I know what I saw.
1:06:50
I saw it, you know, somebody pulling away from my driveway and I saw it from, you know, 75 to a 100 feet.
1:06:57
So I had an idea of, you know, what it looked like, and I described it.
1:07:01
Same person.
1:07:01
It looked like the same person at all.
Josh Levin
1:07:03
Gotcha.
1:07:03
So I guess there's two points of that real quick.
1:07:05
Number 1, under the law, if there's, like, a a no hit, which is where the witness says, I can't tell.
1:07:10
You can administer a photo array again later.
1:07:13
Number 1, maybe the witness was having a bad day or whatever.
1:07:16
Right?
1:07:17
Number 2, we also have back in the back in the day.
1:07:21
Witness ID was very important before the advent of all this other technology we have.
1:07:25
Right?
1:07:25
So we've got maybe nowadays there'd be 5 ring there'd be 5 cameras in the neighborhood, right, showing the person pulling away or walking up.
1:07:34
We have sell site technology.
1:07:36
We can do search warrant requests to see where that person's GPS data says.
1:07:40
And so even at ultimately, the d a's are the arbiters of this.
1:07:43
But even in a case where the witness wasn't 100% certain, We have all these other things we can use to build the case and present it with confidence.
1:07:53
And if I've said anything wrong, please, please correct me.