Posted by: themip in Remedies, Policy, Causes on
Jun 13, 2008
By NADIA PFLAUM OF THE PITCH BLOG:
Time to wax the mustache and polish the good-cop, bad-cop routine: The Kansas City Police Department plans to start filming all interrogations of crime suspects.
It used to be that the KCPD only filmed a suspect's official statement. Everything leading up to that, however, was off-camera. As of now, there is only one interrogation room at KCPD headquarters equipped with a video camera. But recently, Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin approved a decision to film the entire process. Police spokesman Capt. Rich Lockhart says that no specific incident prompted the policy change.
"This is one of those national trends that lots of departments are starting to follow," Lockhart says.
Not everyone at the KCPD is thrilled about the change. "There are some detectives that are supportive," Lockhart says. "Some are not."
Why wouldn't a detective want his or her interrogations thoroughly documented?
"There are certain techniques you use in interrogation that aren't
