Identification Procedures and Options for Reform

Abstract

This article was presented as a Victoria University of Wellington Centennial Lecture during Law Festival Week in 1999. The author notes that while the identification parade is officially the preferred method of identification in New Zealand, very few live parades are organised. Police officers prefer to use photographic identification, for which there is little procedural guidance or training resulting in an ad hoc development of police practice. It is argued in this article that regardless of the method used, a review of the supervision and training of police officers in the area of witness identification is urgently required.
This article incorporates qualitative research on identification procedures in New Zealand, funded by a Victoria University Internal Grant. More extensive research in the United Kingdom was completed for the author’s doctoral thesis.