Despite the assumption that eyewitnesses are important to police investigations, experimental research has suggested that eyewitness evidence can be unreliable. The current study examined the influence of eyewitnesses on real police investigations by surveying police officers in the United Kingdom regarding their perceptions and experiences of eyewitnesses and the information they provide to police. Participants were 159 police officers in the United Kingdom who completed a mailed questionnaire that probed for demographic information about the officers, including age, gender, length of service, rank, and also probed their experiences with both victim and nonvictim eyewitnesses. Results of statistical analyses indicated that most participants believed eyewitnesses provided important leads for police investigations and that eyewitnesses will come forward to police and are prepared to testify in court. However, participants also expressed the opinion that eyewitnesses do not remember as much as police would like and that they rarely remember descriptive information about the people and places involved. Most officers also reported they rarely have the time to conduct good eyewitness interviews. Future research may focus on why some eyewitnesses come forward to police while others do not. Table, references