Police call time on interview room tape recorders
They're as much a part of traditional policing as truncheons and pocketbooks. But today West Midlands Police called time on the interview room tape recorder and with it up to 52 transcribers whose job it is to type up the words they capture.
They're as much a part of traditional policing as truncheons and pocketbooks. But today West Midlands Police called time on the interview room tape recorder and with it up to 52 transcribers whose job it is to type up the words they capture.
The force says the old analogue technology used in traditional tape recorders is "outdated and increasingly unreliable", with some recordings being "poor and at times unusable" in court proceedings.
The digital system provides much higher quality sound and adds video footage of interviews.
And there is now a question mark over the future of the tape transcribers who work for the force, which is trying to save £125m and is expecting to axe more than 2,000 posts.
Transcribing of interviews will continue, but they can now be done centrally, by far fewer people. Thirty of the transcribers are full-time and 22 are part-time.
In a report due before West Midlands Police Authority today, Chief Constable Chris Sims says: "This technology is now outdated and increasingly unreliable.
"Repairs are costly as spare parts become increasingly difficult to source.
"The quality of this most important element of evidence is often poor and at times unusable."
Mr Sims said the technology allowed officers to listen in to interviews from outside the room and give easy access to prosecutors who have to decide whether to charge a suspect.
Three copies of interviews are put onto disks to be given to police, Crown Prosecution Service and defence lawyers.
He said the current system with staff spread across the region to transcribe interviews was inefficient. Mr Sims added: "This will allow us to reduce the number of transcribers and supervisors required."
Some stations, including Wolverhampton, are already using digital equipment and Staffordshire Police has already announced it is moving to digital equipment later this year.
Pc Andy Gilbert, of the West Midlands Police Federation, said: "If something comes along that makes things easier, people will go with it.
"Tapes are old hat and everything's going digital, it's natural progression."
