Video Film Identification'

1
Video Film Identification.

• A Practical, Fair and Consistent Approach to
  Victims and Witnesses
• DI Carwyn Hughes MSc.

2
Aims of Study

• Question practice and policy of identification
  officers.
• Review the theory as provided by psychological
  researchers.
• Register the difference.
• Make recommendations.

3
Why

• Seeking to improve the experience for witnesses.
• Seeking to improve the quality of evidence
  captured for the sake of justice.

4

• Judges and juries are still accepting the
  evidence of eyewitnesses as though such testimony
  were an objective, factual and indisputable
  truth.the reality is that it is often none of
  these. Ainsworth (1998, p. 2)

5
Procedural Safeguard- UK

• Amount of time under observation
• Distance between culprit and witness
• Visibility at the time
• Obstructions
• Known to witness
• Time between incident and identification
• Errors or discrepancies

6
Procedural Safeguards- USA

• Witness opportunity to view
• Witness degree of attention
• Accuracy of description compared with suspect
• Certainty/confidence of the witness in their
  identification of suspect
• Time since the crime

7
Estimator Variables (Wells, 1978)

• Situational Factors
• Conditions
• Type of crime
• Stress of incident
• Duration of incident.

• Witness Factors
• Age
• Sex
• Race
• Intelligence
• CONFIDENCE

8
System Variables (Wells, 1978)

• Quality of Composition
• Size
• Instructions
• The Law
• Methods

9
Witness Confidence

• Confidence in an identification is now held to be
  a good indicator of accuracy (Weber and Brewer,
  2003)
• Confidence can be inflated/bolstered (Levi
  Lindsay, 2001).
• Confidence tested at Court under
  cross-examination (Valentine, 2004).
• Decisions under 12 seconds (Dunning Perretta,
  2002).

10
Methodology

• Thirty semi-structured interviews of
  identification officers.
• 21 Police Forces
• All nine ACPO regions in England Wales
• Sufficient interviews to collate data
• Interview ideal for response and rapport

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Findings

• Average length of service- 24 years
• 100 now converted to VFI.
• 97 believe VFI superior to old parade
• Besides PACE 1984, little to no national guidance
  on conduct of ID Parades.
• 43 different ways in conducting parades.

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Fairness

• 66 fair to both suspect and witness
• 0 unfair to suspect
• 33 unfair to witness
• Term positive misleading and confusing
• Database is too good
• may or may not be present confusing
• Marks and peculiarities disguised
• Vulnerable/intimidate witnesses not catered for

13
Pre-parade briefing

• 66 of forces do provide a pre-parade briefing
• Only 20 follow an accountable script
• Remainder are unable to reliably state what is
  told to the witness pre-parade other than meeting
  and greeting

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What is a Positive identification ?

• A definite 100
• Any identification
• 100 anything less up to the courts
• Over 90
• 50 and over
• An ID without hesitation
• 80 and over as per recent case law?
• What chance for the witness?

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Qualified answers

• If you perceive that a witness is less than 100
  in their identification, what if any questions do
  you ask to qualify the answer?
• 66 do nothing
• 27 qualify the answer with a percentage score
• 33 will qualify but to varying degrees

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Ascertain witness confidence (Wells et al, 2000)

• Only 7 of respondents stated that they ascertain
  the level of confidence of the witness in their
  identification
• Further complicated by lack of definition of what
  a positive identification is in the first place

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Double-blind testing(Wells et al, 2000)

• 93 of respondents stated they know the position
  of the suspect
• The other 7 actively conduct double blind
  testing
• Only 27 thought it should be done
• Overwhelming confidence in the integrity of
  procedures

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Tell the witness the result

• Only 19 tell the witness the result
• 57 believe the witness should be told
• The immediate needs of the witness outweighs the
  possible damaging effect on justice
• Only one force captures the confidence, commits
  it to an exit statement, and then informs the
  witness of the result

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Capture confidence as evidence

• Ask them how confident they were
• Consistency in asking through a percentile scale.
• Commit to evidence through a statement.
• TELL them the result, they want to know.

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Full Recommendations

• 1- Pre-parade briefing
• 2- Pro-forma to be reviewed
• 3- Drop the word positively
• 4- CAPTURE THE CONFIDENCE
• 5- Time the witness decision making.
• 6- Tell the witness the result
• 7- ID officer observe not be observed.
• 8- ID Officer training