The Attack at the Silk Plant Forest

NAVIGATION

Police to try taping

Cameras to be used with suspects' interrogations

By Patrick Wilson

JOURNAL REPORTER

WINSTON-SALEM

Winston-Salem police plan to begin videotaping full interrogations with suspects in all felony investigations, a move that Police Chief Pat Norris said would demonstrate police credibility and reduce allegations that police coerced confessions.

Most law-enforcement agencies nationally and in North Carolina do not electronically record police interviews, but a growing number are doing so. Supporters of the change say that it helps police avoid challenges by defense attorneys over interrogation tactics, reduces the number of suppression motions in court and makes it easier for judges to rule on the legitimacy of confessions.

"I think it just eliminates the what-ifs, and it also lets folks know that we have nothing to hide," Norris said yesterday. "We have a job, and we're professional at what we do."

In recent months, Norris has appeared to be moving in this direction. But her decision also came after a series last week by the Winston-Salem Journal raised questions about the conviction of Kalvin Michael Smith in the attack on Jill Marker in 1995. Smith signed a statement saying he was at the scene, but he later said that the statement was coerced by police.

Norris said that the city is looking at the logistics of the change and hopes to have cameras installed in the two interview rooms in the criminal-investigations division by early next year.

Norris said she didn't know the cost but that the price would not hinder the department's plans. "To me, money is not an issue," she said.

Currently, Winston-Salem police make audio recordings of confessions but generally not the full interview with a suspect. They often record a statement after a suspect has admitted involvement with a crime.

For several years, the department has videotaped interviews involving its own officers when they are being investigated by internal affairs.

Defense attorneys often challenge unrecorded interviews with suspects, arguing that their clients were coerced. Without a recording of the interview, detectives often spend hours in court defending the credibility of their interviews.

Norris is a member of the N.C. Actual Innocence Commission, which plans to study the issue of videotaping interrogations. The commission was created in 2002 by Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake of the N.C. Su-preme Court to review reasons for wrongful convictions and come up with ways to prevent them.

The commission sponsored a seminar in June for police officers and lawyers in which a supervisor with the Denver Police Department explained his department's successes with videotaping full interviews.

The Burlington Police Department is also planning to install video equipment to electronically record interviews.

Sheriff Bill Schatzman of Forsyth County has said he has concerns about videotaping, including the costs. But he said he is willing to take a look at it.

Dave Griffith, Schatzman's chief deputy, said, "I think right now we're just going to study it and see what happens with the other jurisdictions that do it as far as the cost involved, and if it's something that's going to be beneficial down the road."

The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago has studied videotaping and found that departments that use it have had no problems.

At least 260 departments in the United States tape the entire interview with suspects.

"I think that they are trend-setters in North Carolina," said Steve Drizin, a Northwestern law professor and an attorney at the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

"I think that they should be commended for it," Drizin said.

Nils Gerber, a defense lawyer in Winston-Salem, said he agrees that the tapes could cut down on defense challenges.

"If it's on tape, the tape will show whether or not there was coercion," Gerber said. "You can look at the film and make a common-sense determination whether or not you've got a decent case for suppression."

• Patrick Wilson can be reached at 727-7286 or at pwilson@wsjournal.com

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