NCJ Number
123791
Journal
Policing Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1989) Pages: 313-321
Date Published
1989
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The Knowledge of Eyewitness Behavior Questionnaire (KEBQ) was given to 413 subjects in Great Britain, 286 of which were active police officers and 127 of which were civilians working both inside and outside the police service. From previous findings, it was expected that the police sample would be no more knowledgeable about factors influencing eyewitness memory than civilians, although there might be a differential knowledge due to rank, experience, and type of police work performed.
Abstract
The questions dealt with a range of factors that can affect an eyewitness' ability to accurately recall details of an incident as well as factors that may alter or erase details that an eyewitness does recall. As a result of chi-square analysis, it was found that there were no differences between police officers and civilians in the number of correct answers made overall or in the proportion of correct and incorrect answers made to each of the questions. Furthermore, rank, department, experience, age, and sex had little, if any, influence upon the accuracy of officers' responses. Based on these and other findings, experts have recognized the need for the judiciary, psychologists, and police to improve training programs relating to obtaining and presenting eyewitness testimony and to implement programs to conduct further research on factors affecting eyewitnesses. 2 tables, 3 references. (Publisher abstract modified)