§ Mr. Roger Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any information as to the estimated average time taken for a police officer to complete the paperwork necessary after an arrest; and how this will compare when tape recorded interviews are in operation.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe impact of tape recording on police practices and procedures is one of the matters being studied in the tape recording field trials which will not be completed until next spring. The study includes an 339W examination of the time spent by police officers writing up notes and statements etc. Some preliminary information is contained in Home Office Research Study No. 58 "The Tape Recording of Police Interviews with Suspects" published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office last year, and in Home Office research and planning unit bulletin No. 19, published this year. The current impression is that tape recording enables interviews to proceed more quickly and smoothly than where detailed notes have to be taken.
§ Mr. Roger Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will specify the standards required in setting up a tape recording interview room for police use; and what is the estimated cost.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe cost of providing rooms in which tape recorded interviews can be conducted depends entirely upon the suitability of existing rooms for adaptation, and the amount of acoustic enhancement required. The latter will depend in turn on such factors as the proximity of the rooms in question to sources of external noise and the materials from which they are constructed. An interim guide to interview room acoustics was circulated to police authorities and chief constables in July and copies have been placed in the Library of the House (Home Office circular 48/1985). Further guidance, based on a study of interview rooms will be available shortly.