But Not Always of the Offender” (front page, Jan. 6) provides a glimpse into police procedure that many outside of policing will find highly objectionable. But for those who have worked in policing, the article provided no surprise at all. Many police practices have been developed over decades, but often and typically in the absence of science. Even when adopting practices informed by science, older or dated science is sometimes used. An example is eyewitness identification, where many policies now rely on science that is well over a decade old.

Source: New York Times January 13, 2019 18:00 UTC