Legal Lineup??

[shamrock1014]

What is the name of your state? Virginia

We had an incident onboard my ship (a Carrier) where a female was groped while she slept. The XO had everyone muster in the hangar bays and walked throught the ranks and supposedly randomly took ID cards from various people. About an hour later they had everyone whose ID was taken muster once again in the hangar bay. It was obvious they were looking for a bald or balding white male since the majority of personnel there fit that description. They did have a few males with hair and a few black males but it was obvious they were there so they could say it was random. The Chief Master-at-Arms had everyone line single file to the photo lab where they had to write their names on a sheet of paper and have a two photos taken of them, a straight ahead shot and a side shot. No one was ever told why this was happening, just rumors about the groping through the grapevine, but nothing official was ever stated to these individuals. My question is simply, is thislegal?

Originally Posted by shamrock1014

What is the name of your state? Virginia

We had an incident onboard my ship (a Carrier) where a female was groped while she slept. The XO had everyone muster in the hangar bays and walked throught the ranks and supposedly randomly took ID cards from various people. About an hour later they had everyone whose ID was taken muster once again in the hangar bay. It was obvious they were looking for a bald or balding white male since the majority of personnel there fit that description. They did have a few males with hair and a few black males but it was obvious they were there so they could say it was random. The Chief Master-at-Arms had everyone line single file to the photo lab where they had to write their names on a sheet of paper and have a two photos taken of them, a straight ahead shot and a side shot. No one was ever told why this was happening, just rumors about the groping through the grapevine, but nothing official was ever stated to these individuals. My question is simply, is thislegal?

I am betting the answer is Yes. Stick around though: Your question is a good one and hopefully will be answered more specifically from Badapple and/or Fozzy.

[fozzy2]

So far all the command has done is made a bunch of people get their pictures taken. Nothing illegal about that (I'm assuming they weren't Abu Ghraib poses).

The point of compiling a "line up" for identification is not to pick "random people", but rather to pick people who are similar enough to the suspect so that the witness will not be able to pick the suspect out easily. For example, if the witness said they saw "a man with a full beard" and only one person in the line-up has a full beard, it is not much of a line up. Instead you usually find a bunch of people with full beards and see if the witness can pick the suspect out.

What the command is probably doing is making a "photo array/book" of people who fit the description, so witnesses can look through it and see if they can identify anyone in particular. Usually the military can compel you to have your photo taken and/or participate in an actual line-up. Of course, if anyone is ever charged they can challenge the details of the identification, but if you are just someone who was ordered to get your picture taken there isn't much you can complain about (at least legally).

[fozzy2]

Of course, some things never change. This post reminds me of a classic short story about World War I titled "Hands Across the Water." In it American troops posted in France are lined up and a doctor examines everyone's hands under flourescent light. IIRC the troops stand in line for hours in the mud and rain. There are all sorts of theories as to why this is being done, including some rare/dangerous hand fungus, etc. Eventually it turned out that a young French girl had been raped and while she hadn't gotten a good look at the culprit, she had bitten his hand.

(Maybe I've got the title wrong, I've tried to google it but can't find it or its author)