Jul 20, 2006 7:00 pm US/Central
Police: Suspect Torture Could Never Happen Again
Interrogation Rooms Equipped With High-Tech Recording Equipment
by Derrick Blakley
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Police cameras are now installed in interrogation rooms.
CBS
A day after the release of a scathing torture report, the Chicago Police Department wants to people to know torture of suspects could not happen today.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley goes inside the interrogation room to show us why.
Special prosecutors concluded that over two decades, fired Police Commander Jon Burge tortured more than 70 criminal suspects. But they also noted new procedures.
"We now have in place procedures where I can say to you that I believe this could never happen again," said Chief Deputy Special Prosecutor Robert Boyle.
Burge's brutality first came to light in 1982 when convicted cop killer Andrew Wilson was beaten into a confession. But now, homicide detectives record audio and video of all interrogations using a $3 million, state-of-the-art system in all area police headquarters.
"The suspect goes into the room and for their entire stay here, that room, this is being recorded," Deputy Chief of Detectives Michael Chasen said.
A picture is recorded by a camera at the top of the wall, and sound is recorded by a tiny ceiling microphone. Material is stored for two weeks on computer servers at the station and stored permanently at police headquarters.
"It's evidence, and the evidence for all homicide investigations is stored permanently," Chasen said.
"If they had a video camera in those interrogation rooms at Area 2, maybe some of this torture would never have happened," said Flint Taylor with the People's Law Office.
But Taylor says rogue cops can do plenty outside the station, as well.
"You can take somebody under a viaduct, like they did with Darryl Cannon. You can take somebody out on 54th Street, like they did with Phillip Atkins, who's named in the report as someone who was tortured," Taylor said.
Citywide, 37 interrogation rooms are equipped with the new technology. Almost 9,500 hours of questioning have already been recorded.
Meanwhile, Flint Taylor's turning up the heat on the mayor. He's subpoenaed transcripts of sworn statements that Daley gave to the special prosecutor.
He also plans to add Daley's name to federal civil suits filed by Burge victims accusing former States Attorney Daley of failing to prosecute Burge.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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