Innocence Blog

Dallas Police to Change Identification Procedures

Posted: January 16, 2009 5:11 pm

The Dallas Police Department has announced that it will change the ways its officers conduct eyewitness identification procedures, employing the ‘sequential double-blind’ lineup method which has been proven to reduce misidentification.

After two years of delays, the department announced this week that it would not be participating in a planned study testing various identification procedures for accuracy, effectiveness and feasibility.  Police Chief David Kunkle said yesterday that the department couldn’t wait any longer to make the necessary improvements.

"The study was taking way too long, and even with the results, I don't know that it would change where we would end up," Kunkle said. "The standard to where the department should be is a little clearer than it was a few years ago."

Read the full story here. (Dallas Morning News, 01/16/09)

In a sequential double-blind lineup, the administrator does not know which participant is the suspect, and he or she presents suspects one-by-one. Presenting lineup members one-by-one (sequentially), rather than all at once (simultaneously) has been proven to reduce inaccurate eyewitness identifications.

Dallas becomes the eighth department in Texas to use sequential double-blind lineups, joining the states of New Jersey and North Carolina and several other major police departments in implementing the policy.

Tags: Eyewitness Identification, Eyewitness Misidentification