he Ayers Case, based on the little information provided in the article, is a difficult one to justify. However, I do believe that police had probable cause to arrest Ayers.
According to Osterburg and Ward, probable cause to warrant an arrest is established when positive identification of a suspect is made (2014).
Although eyewitness testimony is not always reliable, in some cases that is the only evidence available (Schuster, 2007). Even without more to go on, police were right to make the arrest based on the facts that they had.
Ayers, as their main suspect and a potential threat to society, needed to be placed under arrest. In the case that Ayers had been the robber, leaving him in the public when an eyewitness had identified him as the criminal could have been far more detrimental than the trauma that he and his family went through in the present case. Deuteronomy 19:15 says that one witness is not enough to convict someone, but is it enough to establish probable cause?
References
Osterburg, J. W., & Ward, R. H. (2014). Criminal investigation: a method for reconstructing the past (7th ed.). Amsterdam: Anderson Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier.
Police Lineups: Making Eyewitness Identification More Reliable.
Discussion Board - Ayers Case
I would have to say that the police certainly had probable cause for a warrant to bring the suspect in for questioning. The suspect was identified through a photo lineup; however, the manner in which the suspect was arrested does appear to be overzealous.
In Deuteronomy 13:14 the Bible tells us "you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you" (NIV, 2011).
According to the information given it does not give any indication that a background check was done prior to the arrest of the suspect nor does the article give any information of an investigation to discover the whereabouts of the suspect during the time of the robbery. It is true that had the suspect been the assailant the police would have had reason to believe that the community was in danger due to the information that the assailant was armed and dangerous when the robbery was conducted.
There have been many times in the past that people have spent far more than nine days in jail. "Jones was just 24 years old when he was convicted of trying to steal a woman's purse... despite having an alibi and despite the fact that no fingerprints or DNA evidence ever linked him to the crime. His conviction was based on two flawed eyewitness accounts" (Adams, 2017).
References
Adams, C. (2017). Innocent Man Serves 17 Years for Robbery In Case of Mistaken Identity.
NIV study Bible. (2012). Grand Rapids, Mich.
Waugh, D. (2006). Devastating mix up.