Showups
Officers may prolong a detention for the purpose of conducting a showup if the crime under investigation had just occurred, and the detainee would be arrestable if he was ID’d by the victim or a witness.162
Single-person showups are, of course, inherently suggestive because, unlike physical and photo lineups, there are no fillers, and the witness is essentially asked, “Is this the guy?” Still, they are permitted for two reasons. First, an ID that occurs shortly after the crime was committed is generally more reliable than an ID that occurs later. Second, showups enable officers to determine whether they need to continue the search or call it off.163 As the Court of Appeal observed in In re Carlos M.:
[T]he element of suggestiveness inherent in the procedure is offset by the reliability of an identification made while the events are fresh in the witness’s mind, and because the interests of both the accused and law enforcement are best served by an immediate determination as to whether the correct person has been apprehended.164
SHOWUPS FOR OLDER CRIMES
Although most showups are conducted when the crime under investigation occurred recently, there is no prohibition against conducting showups for older crimes. According to the Court of Appeal, “[N]o case has held that a single-person showup in the absence of compelling circumstances is per se unconstitutional.” 165
Still, because showup IDs are more susceptible to attack in trial on grounds of unreliability, it would be better not to use the showup procedure unless there was an overriding reason for not conducting a physical or photo lineup. As the court noted in People v. Sandoval, the showup procedure “should not be used without a compelling reason because of the great danger of suggestion from a one-to-one viewing which requires only the assent of the witness.”166
TRANSPORTING THE DETAINEE
As a general rule, showups are permitted only if they occur at the scene of the detention. This subject is discussed in the section, “Transporting the Detainee.”
DILIGENCE
Because officers must be diligent in carrying out their duties, they must be prompt in arranging for the witness to be transported to the scene of the detention. For example, in People v. Bowen 167 SFPD officers detained two suspects in a purse snatch that had occurred about a half hour earlier. The court noted that the officers “immediately” radioed their dispatcher and requested that the victim be transported to the scene of the detention. When the victim did not arrive promptly, they asked their dispatcher for an “estimation of the time of arrival of the victim,” at which point they were informed that the officer who was transporting her “was caught in traffic and would arrive shortly.” All told, the suspects were detained for about 25 minutes before the victim arrived and identified them. In rejecting the argument that the delay had transformed the detention into a de facto arrest, the court pointed out that the officers had “immediately” requested that the victim be brought to the scene; and when they realized there would be a delay, they asked their dispatcher for the victim’s ETA. Because these circumstances demonstrated that the officers took care to minimize the length of the detention, the court ruled it was lawful.
REDUCING SUGGESTIVENESS
As noted earlier, showups are inherently suggestive because the witness is not required to identify the perpetrator from among other people of similar physical appearance. Furthermore, some witnesses might assume that, because officers do not go around detaining people at random in hopes that someone will ID them, there must be a good reason to believe that the person the are looking at is the culprit. This assumption may be inadvertently bolstered if the witness sees the detainee in handcuffs or if he is sitting behind the cage in a patrol car.
Still, the courts have consistently ruled that showup IDs are admissible at trial unless officers did something that rendered the procedure unnecessarily suggestive.168 Consequently, if it was reasonably necessary to present the detainee in handcuffs for the safety of officers, the witness, or others, this circumstance is immaterial. Furthermore, officers will usually take steps to reduce any suggestiveness that is inherent in the showup procedure by providing the witness with some cautionary instructions, such as the following:
You will be seeing a person who will be standing with other officers. Do not assume that this person is the perpetrator or even a suspect merely because we are asking you to look at him or because other officers are present.
(If two or more witnesses will view the detainee)
Do not speak with the other witnesses who will be going with us.
When we arrive, do not say anything in their presence that would indicate you did or did not recognize someone. You will all be questioned separately.
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