Florida Cops Resist Recording Felony Interrogations
Cameras are everywhere in society these days. There is virtually no public place that does not have security cameras installed. Technology is so advanced that most people have cameras on their cell phones to record any moment on the fly. When traffic officers make a stop, the dash cams record the officer's interaction with the suspect and these taped arrests are often used in court during DUI and criminal trials.
Often there are videos of crimes being committed, even in private residences, because the perpetrators want to seek fame on the Internet by posting the videos to MySpace or YouTube. So virtually anywhere a crime occurs, there is often a good chance that the crime itself, the suspect or some piece of evidence has been captured on video.
With crimes, evidence and sometimes arrests all caught on film in some cases, it would seem to make sense that the police interrogation process would often be videotaped as well. We've been led to believe by television shows and movies that when a suspect is interrogated that there are witnesses on the other side of the mirror and that the entire thing is videotaped as evidence. However, we must keep in mind that most of what is filmed in Hollywood is fictional. The truth is that police often do not want felony interrogations recorded.
A felony interrogation begins as soon as a suspect is read his or her Miranda rights. Police are legally allowed to use deceptive practices to attempt to extract a confession or important information from the person who is being interrogated. Detectives may lie to suspects during an interrogation, for instance to say that evidence implicating them has been found or that another suspect has confessed and given information about the involvement of the person being interrogated. Currently 10 states require that these felony interrogations be recorded.
In Florida, there is currently no law requiring police to make an audio or video recording during felony interrogations, but a bill was introduced in the state legislature. The bill that would have required law enforcement to record all felony interrogations is supported by the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The Florida Sherriff's Association was the main opponent of the bill that was recently voted down 10-1 by the House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety in Florida.
According to a report by Talahassee.com, The International Association of Chiefs of Police and the FBI recommend that recordings be made of all felony interrogations. So what's the issue in Florida? Surely the sheriff's departments can afford the cheap batteries to power the recording devices, so there seems to be no excuse for the resistance unless they feel they have something to hide.
In some jurisdictions, felony interrogations are voluntarily recorded and the police and sheriff's departments say they do so as a protection for the law enforcement officers. However, the Florida Sheriff's Association says that the recorded interrogations could cause otherwise admissible evidence to be lost. Is this logical? Actually, no, it's not. Statistics show that recorded interrogations actually boost conviction rates and can also help innocent people.
With virtually every other part of the crime and judicial process recorded in one way or another, recorded felony interrogations simply make sense in the big picture. The fact that law enforcement in Florida is adamant to not support a law requiring the recordings makes little sense and reeks of corruption in my opinion.
