Justice Dept. to Reverse Ban on Recording Interrogations
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, NYT, MAY 22, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced on Thursday that federal law enforcement officials will be required to videotape their interviews with suspects in most instances, reversing a longstanding policy that forbids the practice.
The policy, which applies to the F.B.I., the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Marshals Service and which will go into effect in July, also encourages officials to use electronic recording in other parts of their investigations, like witness interviews.
“Creating an electronic record will ensure that we have an objective account of key investigations and interactions with people who are held in federal custody,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a video posted on the department’s web site. “It will allow us to document that detained individuals are afforded their constitutionally protected rights.”
Mr. Holder said that the new practice would provide law enforcement officials “with a backstop, so that they have clear and indisputable records of important statements and confessions made by individuals who have been detained.”
(More here.)
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced on Thursday that federal law enforcement officials will be required to videotape their interviews with suspects in most instances, reversing a longstanding policy that forbids the practice.
The policy, which applies to the F.B.I., the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Marshals Service and which will go into effect in July, also encourages officials to use electronic recording in other parts of their investigations, like witness interviews.
“Creating an electronic record will ensure that we have an objective account of key investigations and interactions with people who are held in federal custody,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a video posted on the department’s web site. “It will allow us to document that detained individuals are afforded their constitutionally protected rights.”
Mr. Holder said that the new practice would provide law enforcement officials “with a backstop, so that they have clear and indisputable records of important statements and confessions made by individuals who have been detained.”
(More here.)
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