Lineups in Blue

Lineups in Blue The scene was unprecedented. Seventy policemen in uniform, all of them white, their faces hard-set, lined up as suspects while four blacks passed from one to the next trying to make identifications. The tension was tangible. "You stink," hissed one cop as one of the Negroes, a woman, peered closely at him. The scene in Buffalo was repeated four times during the past two weeks till 278 cops had appeared before the black quartet. They were the first all-police lineups in memory.

What led to the bitter confrontation was a brutal incident 15 months ago. Alleging that there had been a sniper's shot in a black neighborhood, some 25 cops broke into one house without a warrant, saying that they were looking for guns. A two-year-old girl was knocked to the floor. Her protesting father was beaten, then thrown down a flight of stairs. His three-months-pregnant wife was also knocked down and stomped. A three-month-old girl was Maced in the eyes and left with a permanent need for glasses. At the end of the police rampage, no arrests were made. In fact, not a single policeman on the force will admit having been in the house.

Hair Trigger. Prodded by community groups and convinced that the attack did indeed occur, Commissioner Frank Felicetta, an up-from-the-ranks hardliner, ordered his men to muster for the lineups more than a year ago. They refused, and unsuccessfully fought the order all the way up to the Supreme Court. The delay took its toll. At least three cops said to have been elsewhere during the incident were reportedly among the ten identified by the witness victims. That may well undermine the other identifications, which are to be used only in departmental disciplinary proceedings. No cop is likely to come to trial because such a broad-gauge use of the lineup may violate constitutional rights of the men as individuals. Antagonism between blacks and police in Buffalo has long been exceptionally severe. After the lineups in blue, police tempers are on a hair trigger. And if little or no discipline is meted out to the cops, black tempers will be no less volatile.

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