One of the best decisions we ever made here at the CWC was to publish Tom Sullivan's Report on "Police Experiences With Electronic Recording of Custodial Interrogations." http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/Causes/CustodialInterrogations.htm.
Thomas P. Sullivan (Photo: Mary Hanlon)
We knew there was a market for the report as law enforcement agencies had not been polled about their practices in more than a decade. The Report is like the ever-ready rabbit, it just keeps on running. Meanwhile Tom and his associates at Jenner & Block continue to add to the list of police agencies that are recording and continue to publish their research in all manner of publications (law reviews, law enforcement magazines) and to testify in legislatures around the country. When the time comes that every police department in the country routinely records interrogations, history will record that Tom's report was a major impetus for this much-needed reform.
By the way, in a recent e-mail Tom and his crew report that they now have "over 450 police agencies in 49 states, plus those that record per statute (IL, NM, ME, WI, DC), court rulings (AK, MA, MN), and court rule (NJ). We have a never-ending list of leads, that we keep adding to as we make more calls. It turns out the practice is widespread and spreading, and we're still waiting for a dept. to say anything negative - indeed, the superlatives are repetitious."
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