Dallas has eye on more reliable photo lineups
With faulty eyewitness testimony proving problematic, police will take part in federally funded study

07:31 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 26, 2007

By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News


Dallas County has gained national notoriety for admitting it has sent more innocent people to prison than any other county in recent years: 13 people have been exonerated by DNA testing since 2001.

And there's a consistent culprit in the bad cases, which date back to 1981. Notoriously unreliable eyewitness testimony was relied on in at least 11 of them.

Now the Dallas Police Department is joining the national debate among law enforcement agencies, academic institutions and state legislatures over the best way for police to conduct photo lineups. Dallas plans to be one of several cities taking part in a study that seeks to come up with the best possible way to confirm eyewitness identifications.

For the rest of the story, click here.