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AG Wants Police Departments To Adopt New Eyewitness I.D. Process

Keith Allison via Flickr CC

The state Attorney General's office is encouraging police departments statewide to adopt a new model policy on eyewitness identification procedures.

The policy was crafted in partnership with the Innocence Project, an organization that works to reverse wrongful convictions. Suspect misidentification is the most common contributor to wrongful convictions in cases where DNA evidence has exonerated someone, officials say.

The state cannot require police departments to adopt the policies but is organizing training sessions. The policies aim to take away inadvertent bias in the eyewitness identification procedures.

Deputy Attorney General Ann Rice says the policy is not being adopted in response to bad practices but will serve as a way to streamline police procedures. Fourteen other states, including Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut use the same model policy.

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