VIDEO-BASED IDENTIFICATION PROCEDURES Combining Best Practice and Practical Requirements When Designing Identification Systems Richard I. Kemp University of New South Wales Graham E. Pike and Nicola A. Brace Open University A. M. Levi and R. C. L. Lindsay (2001) argued that when making recommendations for legal reforms, such as those concerning the conduct of identification procedures described by G. L. Wells et al. (1998), psychologists should include the full range of recommendations that will achieve the desired outcome. This is in contrast to the more pragmatic position adopted by Wells et al., who recommended only those changes that they believed were both beneficial and acceptable to the police. The authors of this commentary describe the results of the initial evaluation of a video-based identification parade system developed by the West Yorkshire Police in the United Kingdom and suggest that this might indicate a possible middle ground between these 2 approaches to achieving change in identification procedures. Levi and Lindsay (2001) argued that when formulating recommendations for the conduct of identification parades, psychologists should be guided only by the available data and should recommend each and every change that they think likely to achieve the desired outcome, regardless of cost. They suggested that, although psychologists may be able to advise on the likely costs and benefits of a change, they should not be constrained in their recommendations on the basis of estimates of cost or likelihood of implementation, as this is the role of policymakers. According to Levi and Lindsay, a best-practice approach to change occurs when the full range of recommendations is adopted. In the case of the conduct of identification parades, Levi and Lindsay suggested that a best-practice approach will lead to a set of recommendations different from those made by Wells et al. (1998). Wells et al. took a more pragmatic approach when deciding what changes to recommend and justified their decisions regarding which recommendations to include or exclude on the basis of not only available research regarding the efficacy of the change but also factors such as their face validity or likely costs of implementation. Naturally, these different approaches result in different sets of reform recommendations. In particular, Levi and Lindsay (2001) suggested that their best-practice approach led them to recommend the use of sequential iden- tification parades involving a large number of distractors. In a simultaneous identification parade, the witness can view all the parade members at the same time. In a sequential identification procedure, the witness views each member of the parade individually and is required to decide whether each is the perpetrator before seeing the next parade member. Relative to simul- Richard I. Kemp, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Graham E. Pike and Nicola A. Brace, Department of Psychology, Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Richard I. Kemp, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia. Electronic mail may be sent to richard.kemp@unsw.edu.au. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 2001, Vol. 7, No. 4, 802– 807 Copyright 2001 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 1076-8971/01/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//1076-8971.7.4.802 802 This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.