EYEWITNESS TESTIBALONEY

  Cops learn early on not to rely--with certainty--on eyewitness testimony. In the police academy, a class is interrupted by some outrageous event. Say, a woman in a bikini being chased through the room by a fat man with a butterfly net. Stuff like that. 
 After things settle down, the recruits are asked to write down what they saw in as much detail as possible. What happened? What they looked like? What they were wearing? Keep in mind these are wannabe cops, with some training. 
 You wouldn't believe what they saw. Few can accurately described what actually transpired or what the participants looked like.
 What's disturbing is that eyewitness testimony is some of the most compelling evidence you can present to a jury. They believe it!

 Another exercise, to prove fallibility, is done by passing a short story around the room, whispered by one recruit to the other. Then the last listener tells what they were told. Again, it's nothing close to the tale that was started.

 Something that started as "John Wayne was out riding on his Honda, drove over a banana peel, and slid into George Clooney who was pulling a rickshaw." This could end up "Marilyn Monroe bought a banana split from Humphrey Bogart who was working at a Dairy Queen in China." 

 No kiddin'.
 That's why I could never choke down an Agatha Christie mystery or any of that ilk. The witnesses are so precise. It was exactly 3:10 PM when I saw Fauntleroy stroll by wearing his blue, pinstripe jodhpurs. I know the time, because that's when I go out on my terrace each day to water my daffodils.

 Cops also soon learn that if they aren't careful, they can make a witness identify anyone else as the person seen doing a specific act. That's why photo lineups are so scrupulously crafted and witnesses are never allowed, before identification, to see suspects with the cops. He's with the cops so he must be the one.

 Finally, white folks are just no good at even attempting to identify anyone but other white folks. Blacks, Mexicans, Chinese? They all look the same. A sad commentary but true.
 Next, a case that showed me how easily this could happen in the real world.