NCJ Number
104655
Date Published
1986
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The British Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 requires additional recordkeeping and personnel responsibilities for police to ensure that suspect's rights are not violated, and the multiplicity of legal procedures required makes criminal cases even more vulnerable to defense attorney attacks based on police technical violations.
Abstract
The act requires that a custody officer be designated to ensure that the multitude of detention and interrogation procedures and conditions are met for each station. This involves the periodic review of the case circumstances of each detained, uncharged suspect to determine whether continued detention is warranted. Such periodic reviews in themselves are a full-time task. Records of every detention event must be maintained for each suspect, and these records can be perused by the suspect's attorney to determine whether police have complied with all mandated detention procedures. Overall, the act will prove to be very costly for police agencies, and the additional legal procedures that govern police actions will increase the probability that defense attorneys will be able to gain acquittals based on police technical violations, thus undermining police effectiveness in controlling crime. 7 notes.