Tom had done several of these of the past few months. Police line ups. "Easy money," he said to his mate Kris as the two lads shared a beer one evening after work.
Tom was classically handsome, dark hair, lightly tanned skin and a short stubbled beard. He was slim but with just a touch of muscle, he dressed simply but fashionably amd the arms of his plain white t-shirt clung nicely to his biceps.
"Maybe I'll give it a go next time" The other lad replied, "I could do with some extra cash actually, they cut my shifts and I'm trying to save up for a new car, I think mines on its last legs."
Kris was short, also dark haired but slimmer and a less muscular body than his friend. Despite actually being two years older at 25 he barely could grow any facial hair, the overall effect was that he looked like he was still a teenager. He was constantly being asked for ID in bars which used to drive him crazy.
"I've got one coming up in a week." Tom said, "let me ask if they need any more, you'll need to register on this website... I'll send you the link."
After the familiar 'whizz' of the email, Kris picked up his phone and quickly filled in all his personal details, scrolled to the bottom of the page past all the disclaimers and legal warnings before hitting the 'submit' button and then switching to a new topic of conversation, not really giving it a second thought.
A few days later Kris got an email in response to his application, it was brief but positive and asked him to attend for a line-up the following Saturday. He was stoked, and texted Tom straight away to tell him.
"No way!" Tom replied, "thats great news. Saturday 3pm? I should be there too, how about we meet and walk over together, shall i see you about 2:30?"
The lads made their plans and soon the weekend arrived. They'd had instructions on what to wear: dark joggers, a navy t-shirt, trainers and a black hoody. If possible, have a couple of days stubble.
As they walked to the station together they almost looked like twins, if not identical you'd certainly be forgiven for thinking they were brothers.
Kris asked Tom what was involved whilst they walked.
"Honestly it's so easy. You just need to stand there while someone walks slowly past you and looks at you. The idea is they identify someone who they saw committing a crime of some sort. Sometimes they tell you a bit about it but often not. They try and get a group of guys who look similar."
Once they reached the police station Tom said hi to the duty officer on reception and introduced his friend. The officer recognised Tom but didn't know him by name, she signed the boys in, checked their ID and asked them to go down the corridor and wait in room 15.
The boys did as they were told and were met by a muscular officer who offered them a glass of water and asked them to wait on some chairs by the wall. One guy was already waiting in tge room next door, he sat with his phone in his hand as they walked last, not paying any attention to them.
After a few more minutes they could see another couple of guys arrived and sat down, in a similar looking room slightly further down the corridor. They weren't allowed to be in the same room in advance in case this made it obvious to anyone who the suspect might be.
The boys sat in silence as they'd been asked, waiting patiently to be called.
Tom checked his watch, he had a date that evening and didnt want to be late, it was only the second time seeing this girl and he didn't want to mess her around.
He'd told Kris about her - Jen - long blond hair, slim and petite, she was shy but cute and Tom was pretty smitten. "Honestly mate," he'd said, "she could be the one!"
As they were chatting quietly the muscular officer came back in to their room.
"Right gentlemen, we're ready for you. If you'd like to follow me?"
"Rember, no talking, no eye contact, just stand and face forwards, I'll be on hand if you have any questions but I'm sure you'll be fine."
The boys filed out after the officer and joiner 4 other similarly aged guys, all wearing dark hoodys & joggers. Kris was trying to work out whether any of them actually might be a criminal... he'd had quite a sheltered young life and the idea that he was in a line up woth a real criminal felt somehow dangerous and thrilling to him. One of the other guys looked back which made him instantly look away though and he almost crashed into Tom as they took their place at the end of the line.
The officer briefed them and they all stood quietly, waiting for victim of whatever crime
had been committed to come in and start looking at them. Kris coughed nervously, he wasnt sure why he was nervous but he just felt weirdly out of place. Tom sensed his friends discomfort and winked, quietly, reassuringly asking if he was ok. Kris nodded and gave a weak thumbs up.
After a minute the door opened and 2 women walked in, as much as he wanted to stare, Kris kept his eyes facing forward as hed been told. He could hear a quiet discussion between the 2 young women as they walked along the line, accompanied by a female officer, while the muscular sergeant stood in the background.
Kris looked briefly to see Tom, very professional, also looking forwards, unmoving.
The boys caught snatches of conversation, "its very difficult... I'm not quite sure.... perhaps..." then out of the corner of his eye he saw the group of 3 women talking to the male officer.
"Well we could do that... its quite unusual... they have all agreed to that if needed. OK, OK thats fine I'll arrange it."
The women stepped out of the room for a moment while the muscular sergeant moved to address the group of young men lined-up. He looked awkward the boys both thought. "Obviously I can't say too much, but the alleged offense in this case was a case of indecent exposure, and the lady has said the perpetrator had a umm, quite a memorable, umm... appendage."
"So when the young ladies come back in we'll need you to drop your trousers down to your ankles for them."
"What??" spluttered Tom, his cool composure lost. "You can't be serious, I, I, I can't I'm afraid, I'm not wearing any underwear." he blushed as he said it.
