Factors Re Credibility of Police Officers

JURY INSTRUCTIONS:Special Instructions

Johnson v. United States (1948) 333 U.S. 10, 14, 92 L.Ed. 436, 68 S.Ct. 367; People v. Dickerson (1969) 273 Cal.App. 645, 650, fn. 4, 78 Cal.Rptr. 400

In determining the believability of any witness who is a member of a law enforcement agency, in addition to the general criteria of credibility applicable to all witnesses, you should consider the following:

1. That law enforcement is a competitive enterprise and, as such, a police officer witness has an interest in the outcome of this case.
2. Police officers have a natural and unavoidable tendency to assemble and remember such evidence as would be used against a defendant.