Current identification procedure practices: a survey of Ontario police officers

Eighty-two police officers completed a survey regarding the identification procedures they had personally used in the past two years. The majority of officers reported following the recommendations set out by the Sophonow Inquiry. Generally, lineups were presented sequentially, unbiased lineup instructions were used, and showups and multiple suspect lineups were rarely employed. Unfortunately, the majority of lineups were not presented in a double-blind fashion, witnesses were not consistently asked for a confidence statement, and some officers gave positive feedback to witnesses who identified the suspect. The results of this research are discussed in terms of identification procedure effectiveness.