1.02 Visual identification – what works

Academic team: Prof Graham Pike, Dr Hayley Ness, Dr Catriona Harvard and Dr Virginia Harrison
Policing partners: Greater Manchester Police, Merseyside Police
Status: Complete

The project used three surveys:

  • A questionnaire completed by policing staff
  • A questionnaire completed by witnesses/the general public
  • A tool to record additional information about identification procedures

The results of the research showed a worrying disjuncture between the relevant practice guidelines and the behaviour of witnesses in a criminal investigation. This included that many witnesses either did not understand the instructions given to them at an identification procedure and/or chose to interpret them in ways not intended by the police. For example, witnesses reported that they expected the perpetrator to be present in the parade and that they should select someone.

Overall, there appeared to be a pattern of witness selection, including self-selection, and behaviour that meant that the witnesses tending to take part in identification procedures displayed many of the characteristics that research has shown are likely to lead to misidentifications.

Outputs

TitleOutputs typeLead academicYear
Identification evidenceBook chapterPike, G2018
​Perceptual impacts on eyewitness identificationConference paperPike, G2016
Face recognition in forensic settingsConference paperPike, G2018
Face recognition in forensic settingsSymposiumPike, G2016
Public and police perceptions of psychology and the lawSymposiumPike, G2015
Identity, citizenship and engaging with the criminal justice systemConference paperBriggs, G2015
How to improve identification evidence: practitioner hits and academic false alarmsWebsitePike, G2015
Facing criminal justice: face perception research and the criminal justice systemSymposiumPike, F2015

News

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Findings from an evaluation of the pilot application of AI for witness statement and report generation

Dr Paul Walley and Dr Helen Glasspoole-Bird have published an evaluation report entitled “An Evaluation of the Pilot Application of Artificial Intelligence to Witness Statement and Report Generation at Hertfordshire Constabulary”.  The work studies the outputs of version 1 of an AI application that takes audio from Rapid Video Response interviews with victims of domestic abuse and converts this into relevant summary documents including MG11 witness statements.

15th May 2025
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