Police lineups

Do they really ever happen or is that just for TV and cartoons? (a lineup of people that the victim is supposed to pick the badguy out of) How do they pick the people to line up?

Ours are done by photos.

Same

In my close to 2 decades in LE Ihave completed about 50 incustody corporal line up (6 guys behind the 2 way mirror just like TV).

It has become pretty common for our counties public defenders office to ask for a corporal line up if there has been a ID made off of a photo line up, think it is more of a stall tactic as we have to have a prelim exam (PC Hearing) with in 14 days of a felony arraigment.

Out of those 50 or so, only had one or two people NOT ID the suspect.

For the other 5 guys in the lineup, the jail staff uses the computer booking system to come up with as many possible matches, then they go to each and ask them if they want to participate (I think they get 5 bucks in their commensary account if they do), then all possibles plus the badguy are assembled in a room, the Prosecutor and Defense are there along with the officer in charge of the case, they set the line up (defense does 99% of the setting), take pics to assure its all legit down the road and then the line up happens.

Average time from request to actually occuring is about 1-2 weeks, fastest we have gotten it done was the next day after the request but there was some pretty extenuating circumstances surrounding that case.

J-

Photos as well.

In picking people we try to make everyone reasonably similar.

So, if you have a white male suspect that has a beard and wears glasses, all the other photos in the lineup will also be of white males with beards and glasses and also close to the same age, hair color, etc.

It wouldn't be very fair if you had your 40 yr. old bearded, glasses-wearing suspect and everyone else in the lineup was a freshly shaven red-headed 20 yr. old.

This.

I've lost count of the photo lineups I've done in my 8 years as a cop.

Never done a physical lineup as of yet.

I've been a cop for 26 years and a Detective for 18. I've done a ton of photo lineups but only a handful of "live lineups." They are a pain to get set up, especially since we don't have our own jail anymore (we contract out). They are useful in cases where you have multiple victims, like a robbery spree, since you can get all of your victims to show up at one place and get it done in a few hours. In most cases a photo lineup is just quicker and easier.

Really ever happen? Yes. A score ago when I was working with rape victims, we were shown the line up room and the observation room. While I never saw it used, I doubt they had it around for looks.

Does it still happen? I'll leave that to others.
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(After an idiot witness has picked out a senior detective standing near by, "You can't go! I just picked you out!", (w,stte), "The Jokers")

They do happen from time to time but it is rare.

Most all are done with a "six pack" of photographs

I did a lineup years ago. A detective who knew me, asked me to be in it because I was about the same weight, height, and so on as the suspected perp. I never did find out if the vic picked the "right" person. The detective gave me a photo of me in the lineup to say thanks..it was sorta fun as it got me out doing something different for an afternoon.

photos

Thanks for the replies! What are the circumstances where you use a lineup (real or photo) instead of just showing the suspect by himself for a yes or no ID?

Probably varies by state, but the only way we show a photo by itself is when the suspect is known to the victim already, and identifies him by name or nickname. It is too easy to get a bad ID when just showing a photo of the suspect only.

We use a "double blind" system for photo line ups now where a second detective (who does not know who the suspect is) will show the six photos to the victim. We then take a statement from the victim as to how sure he is that he identified the correct suspect. The Innocence Project is making pushes all over the place due to what they believe to be bad witness IDs in previous cases.

Live line ups are pretty much conducted in the same manner, but coordinated through the state attorney. Live line ups are not pretty common down here, and in my personal experience, the suspect has already been arrested before the line up is conducted. This is only used in major cases, usually capital crimes.

A "show up" is a bit different and is when a live suspect is stopped near the crime scene and is stood on the side of the road while the witness/victim is brought to the scene to ID him. This is just to assist in establishing probable cause for arrest, and still requires additional investigative action.

I have done quite a few and seen judges order them. I would say it is less than 1% of the number of photo lineups.

Our Detectives get guys from the local homeless shelter to be in the line ups.

This.

+1 and the victims who "saw everything" suddenly don't remember anything. The joys of police work.

or they say "thats him right there, number 3, I'm positive" and then the guy passes a poly and was actually out of the state at the time of the incident, LMAO, fucking witnesses.

J-

We go into the city and steal their homeless guys for ours. I've had to do two in the three years I've been a Detective. They are an absolute pain in the cock to set up.

This

All the time with photos.....defense will rip you apart if you don't follow proper protocol tho.

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