Course Description

Nationwide, misidentification of suspects has been an identified factor in numerous wrongful convictions. The database maintained by the Innocence Project has 375 convictions which have been overturned through DNA exoneration. 69% of those wrongful convictions involved misidentification of the suspects. The National Registry of Exonerations tracks DNA and Non-DNA exonerations. They have recorded 2,679 exonerations, of which 759 involved witness misidentification of suspects as a factor in the conviction.

This two-hour class focus on potential implementation of what is known as “the core four” recommendations regarding the eyewitness identification process. These procedures (the core four) have been endorsed by The Innocence Project, The National Academy of Sciences, The American Bar Association, The International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Department of Justice. These recommendations are commonly referred to as “the core four.”

The “Core Four” recommendations which will be addressed are:

  1. Blind Administration. 
  2. Lineup composition. 
  3. Witness Instruction.
  4. Confidence Statements.


This class will also review information regarding possible implementation of the following procedures which have been reported to have a relationship to the accuracy of photo lineup identification procedures.

  1. Sequential presentation of photos in the lineup. 
  2. Videotaping of all administrations of photo lineups.


Instructor(s)

| Captain Everett Babcock

Captain Everett C. Babcock is in his 32nd year as a law enforcement officer. His career started in 1988 for a small agency in Sayre Oklahoma where he worked as both an officer and an investigator before taking a position in 1992 as an Investigator for the District Attorney’s Office in Oklahoma’s 2nd Judicial District, where he was assigned to the District 2 Drug Task Force which investigated major narcotic offenses throughout western Oklahoma.

In 1995 Captain Babcock moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he took a job with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department. Captain Babcock served as a patrol officer and field training officer before transferring to investigations in 1998 where he was assigned as a detective and unit training officer. In 2013 Captain Babcock was promoted to sergeant. After serving a short time back in patrol, he returned to investigations, assigned to homicide, the generalist squad and the assault squad. In 2018 Captain Babcock was promoted again to his current rank of Captain. After serving about a year-and-a-half back in patrol, Captain Babcock once again returned to investigations where he is currently assigned to the Property Crimes Division.

The majority of Captain Babcock’s time assigned to investigations as both a detective and a sergeant was spent assigned to the homicide unit. Captain Babcock also spent three years as the supervisor of the department’s Police Shooting Team. Captain Babcock’s homicide cases have been showcased on the television shows America’s Most Wanted, The First 48, American Gangster and Fatal Attraction.

Captain Babcock holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration Law Enforcement (Summa Cum Laude) from Park University and he is finishing up his Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Missouri. Captain Babcock is a certified Basic Instructor and Defensive Tactics Instructor through the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training, and holds a Generalist Instructor License from the State of Missouri Department of Public Safety. Captain Babcock is a member of the International Homicide Investigators Association, the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association the International Law Enforcement Trainers Association and the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #102.

Captain Babcock has been teaching law enforcement since 2012, and he has taught several classes for the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, including building and teaching their bi-annual Detective Academy. Captain Babcock also teaches at the Missouri Highway Patrol’s Detective Academy and he is a guest instructor at the University of Central Missouri’s Central Police Academy. Since 2017, Captain Babcock has been teaching for the Dolan Consulting Group, teaching hundreds of officers in classes all over the United States in the topics of New Detective Training, Homicide Investigation and Interrogations.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Before You Start

    • Consent Questions

    • Webinar Handout

  • 2

    Webinar

    • Section 1

    • Section 2