27 FEBRUARY 1953, Page 18

Identification and Arrest

Sut,—Janus has rendered a public service by calling attention to the unlawful practice of the police in charging persons with crimes after they have been identified. As the law stands, identity parades are .unlawful. Once a person is arrested he must be charged, for the police have no power of release. It is only a magistrate who can discharge an arrested person. If a person is not arrested flagrante delicto, he can only lawfully be arrested and charged on a warrant issued by a magistrate.

All arrests, however effected, are " on suspicion "; they could not be otherwise. It does not matter whether a person charged after an identification parade is guilty or innocent; an arrest made in such circumstances is bad per se, and the magistrate must discharge the arrested person. The police are not allowed to blow hot and cold, that is to say arrest a person, have an identification parade and then, if the witnesses of identity do not come up to the mark, calmly release the victim. Magistrates—particularly the London stipendiaries—are to blame for the unlawful activities of the police, which are a blot on our criminal justice. Magistrates should administer justice accord- ing to law, and so stamp out the practice of identification parades.—

Yours faithfully, G. W. R. THOmsoN. 13 Kings Hall Road, Beckenham, Kent.