POLOKWANE – In an open community policing forum (CPF) meeting at the Polokwane police station earlier this year the police warned that the circulation of photos of so-called suspects should stop, as this could affect their investigations.
This follows the circulation of a photo of an alleged suspect in a recent rape at Curves Gym.
According to the police, there had been cases where a suspect’s photo was distributed and clearly identified by the victim only to find that the person could not be linked by evidence to the crime.
At that time Maxwell Davidson, an attorney in the city, said that the circulation of suspects’ photos could affect the outcome of a case.
Davidson said by spreading the photos, the identification of a suspect could be compromised, and in cases where there had been a false identification, the case could even be dropped.
“By the victim seeing a photo of a suspected person, he or she can then be accused of being coached into identification,” Davidson said.
He said this could make the person’s testimony unbelievable and could lead to a mistrial.
Polokwane police spokesperson, WO Lesiba Ramoshaba, said the identification of a suspect should be done at the police station where the suspect could be identified by either a photo from the police photo book or by an identification parade.
During the identification parade, the victim will be protected by a one way mirror that will keep the victim safe and not in direct contact with the suspect.
