NCJ Number
159076
Date Published
1995
Length
4 pages
Annotation
When conducting interviews with suspects, British police officers are required to prepare a written record of each interview; this article reports on research designed to identify good practice and provide a benchmark against which alternative methods of recording interviews may be assessed.
Abstract
Six police forces and associated Crown Prosecution Service areas participated in this research, which tested a variety of methods of preparing records of taped interviews (ROTI's). The different methods of preparation were the police model, in which police officers provide the primary input, including preparation of a manuscript summary; the civilian model, in which police officers provide short written guidance to civilians who provide summaries; the full verbatim transcripts, which contain a dialog between interviewee and interviewer; and the edited tape method, in which a tape editing machine allows the copy tape of the interview to be converted into an "extract" tape by transferring verbatim passages from the interview onto a blank tape interspersed with summarized passages supplied by the police officer through a microphone. Findings show that the civilian model generally produces a higher quality ROTI than those prepared by police officers (the police model). They tend to be better in coverage, accuracy, relevance, coherence, and literacy. Further, the civilian model reduces average police input from 82 minutes to 19 minutes per ROTI. The civilian model is thus cheaper than the police model. 2 tables, 3 figures, and 1 reference