Relying on the notepad in the electronic age

The New York Times today asks:

Why is the Federal Bureau of Investigation still using Sherlock Holmes methods in the YouTube era?…

More than 500 police departments in all 50 states now make electronic recordings of at least some interrogations, often videotaping them. At the F.B.I., by contrast, an agent cannot turn on a tape recorder without first getting a supervisor’s permission.

Thomas P. Sullivan, a former United States attorney in Chicago and a bit of a crusader on this point, says local law enforcement agencies that have adopted electronic recording cannot imagine life without it.

“I can say without exaggeration — it’s unanimous — that they all love it,” Mr. Sullivan said. “They hate it until they do it, and then they love it.”

Read the full story

. (NY Times, 02/12/07)

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  Learn how recording of interrogations prevents wrongful convictions
  
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• Eight states require recording of interrogations.
  
  Is yours one?