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GREENSBORO - No firm rules exist in the Greensboro Police Department when it comes to conducting photo line ups during criminal investigations.

Photo line up procedures for criminal investigations came under scrutiny in Greensboro this month after the discovery of a "black book" containing photos of 19 African American city police officers among a total of 114 head shots.

Former police Chief David Wray says the album was used to investigate a 2005 sexual assault made by a black officer against a police informant.

City leaders are trying to investigate that claim, and black officers claim the book was used for racial profiling by a covert unit in the agency.

Greensboro police officials said last week that detectives follow methods published in "Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina," a book by Robert L. Farb at UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute of Government.

The book outlines non binding guidelines for showing suspects in photo line ups. It states "failure to follow them does not necessarily mean that evidence will be inadmissible" in court.

Nor does state law mandate how photo line ups must be put together. But the commission that oversees police training in North Carolina has changed the way cadets learn how to conduct one.

As of Jan. 1, students in basic law enforcement training learn to show photos one at a time, in groups of six, to the victim of a crime, said Al Andrews, a High Point police attorney . Some local agencies, such as the High Point Police Department, have adopted this nonbinding standard.

One photo should belong to a suspect and five other head shots should match the description of the suspect.

In the black book, which has not been shown to the public, each officer was featured on one page of the book in a photo that did not identify their jobs. Five photos of randomly selected black men were included for each officer in the book.

It remains unclear whether the photos were shown one at a time or in groups of six. It is also unclear how the binder was used afterward.

The victim was not able to identify any of the 19 officers, nor did she recognize photos of 95 other men randomly included in the book, Wray said.

With Greensboro police, it is not uncommon for officers to pull photos from the Division of Motor Vehicles for inclusion in a line up - your photo could be next to a suspect if you share similar physical descriptions.

That's not the only way investigators may have someone identify their attacker.

"I've seen officers use six photos to constitute a line up, to a yearbook," police Lt. Jane Allen said. "As detectives, we would attempt to use at least six photos in a line up."

Contact Eric J.S. Townsend at 373-7008 or etownsend@news-record.com