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NYPD To Begin Filming Interrogations
By
Ben Muessig
Published Feb 19, 2010
Modified Feb 19, 2010
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Feb 19, 2010
Modified Feb 19, 2010
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In a move opposed by detectives unions but celebrated by those who accuse the NYPD of coercing confessions out of innocent people, the police department will soon begin videotaping interrogations. Supporters of the new policy—which will first be implemented as a pilot program at one high-crime precinct in the Bronx and one high-crime precinct in Brooklyn—say recording interrogations from start to finish will protect people from confessing to crimes they didn't commit.
Confessions are currently taped, but the NYPD had long balked at the idea of taping interrogations because it would be "too expensive and cumbersome to be practical for the nation's largest police department," according to the Daily News. But thanks to newfangled digital technology, an agency that still relies on typewriters will soon able to tape some of its interrogations.
Though the policy has the support of the city's district attorneys and the American Bar Association, Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, told the Post that cameras will make it much harder for law enforcement officials to do their jobs, potentially leading to more acquittals. "The art of interrogation includes the use of trickery and deception, which are perfectly legal tools," he said. "However, jurors may get turned off, becoming more sympathetic to the suspect."
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Detectives Endowment Association
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