§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement as to the recent tape recording trials of police interviews in Leicester.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe tape recording of police interviews has been in operation at Leicester central police station since 2 April 1984. Five interview rooms are530W equipped for tape recording: three of them in the main cell block; one in the CID suite; and one in the regional crime squad suite. Up to 31 December 1984, 3,378 persons had been interviewed on tape. The chief constable tells me that the officers who have participated in the trial have adapted well to the new procedures. Although it is too early to point with certainly to changes which have been brought about by tape recording, there is some evidence of an increase in the number of pleas of guilty and of less frequent challenge to police officers' evidence of interviews. Detailed monitoring of the trial in Leicester and in the five other tape recording trial areas is being undertaken by the Home Office research and planning unit in order to establish the full effects which tape recording gives rise to in the criminal justice system, and to inform the planning for the implementation of a national scheme. Home Office "Research Study No. 82", which reported the full background to the trials and some preliminary results, was published last month.