Preventing Wrongful Charges: Project Innocence

After having found a growing number of convicted prisoners innocent when DNA was brought in, Dallas Police Department has come to review the process that convicted those innocent people. Commendably, the Dallas Morning News began an investigation that has pinpointed 'showups', the use of single suspect lineups, as one cause of the errors.

Eyewitness identifications are unreliable in general, but when only one suspect is presented to that eyewitness, the possibility of error balloons.

A review by the department that began Monday already has challenged long-held beliefs that such showups are rare.

"I had an idea this was minimal," Assistant Chief Ron Waldrop said. "But that's not true. Even though the numbers are low, it's a common thing."

The ongoing review, primarily of robbery cases, has identified more than 60 in which showups were used. Chief Kunkle said that the department will analyze each showup to make sure it was done properly.

The changes at DPD could serve as a model to departments nationwide, one eyewitness identification expert said.

Gary Wells, an Iowa State University psychology professor, called the department's decision "a great move."

"My guess is what it's going to show is that showups are happening a lot, and therefore that's where we need to put more of our attention," Dr. Wells said.

Police departments have largely ignored recommendations by Dr. Wells and other scholars over the last two decades to limit showups. Dr. Wells said pressure on police agencies has intensified because of DNA exonerations and the media attention they have received.

Police departments "are going to find it harder and harder to hold out when there are places like a Dallas that step forward," he said. "Any event like that, and especially for a jurisdiction as large as Dallas, is going to be a positive development, and it's going to help speed up reform."

Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas, said he commends DPD for its new policy but also has concerns.

"This is a lame excuse designed to cover up decades of past wrongdoing," said Mr. Blackburn, who has worked to free some of Dallas County's DNA exonerees. Mr. Blackburn is co-counsel in two federal civil rights lawsuits against DPD on behalf of DNA exonerees involved in showups.

Dallas County leads the nation with 19 convictions invalidated by DNA since 2001. Texas, with 36 such exonerations, leads all other states.

The move to make police work more reliable is a promising one. As regard for rights of individuals makes inroads in our prison system, it becomes ever more evident that the police have not been held to very high standards. All of us are at risk, not just the guilty.

Anyone who's ever had a run-in with the power of the police, something I encountered indirectly recently, finds out to some dismay that you are unlikely to encounter fair or balanced treatment. Arbitrary powers, used mostly on a community that has long been unable to expect respect, has made a lot of our police forces into demagogues. The beginnings that Project Innocence, and some responsible media, are causing are a benefit to all of us.