Much noise has been made over videotaping investigative interviews (excuse me, “interrogations”). NCIS finally got on board not long ago. Anecdotally, defense counsel seem to love this, thinking that it will expose all manner of abusive practices by investigators. I’m not so sure, but I do suspect that tape will lead to far more convictions than acquittals.

Criminal investigators suffer from some pretty bad publicity and videotape is a great equalizer. For example, few agencies suffer from worse publicity than the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which was recently accused of, well, let’s let the accuser tell it:

My son was taken from me.

Taken.

My son was taken from me by the TSA agents at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport yesterday.

He was taken away from me and OUT OF MY SIGHT because his pacifier clip went off when I carried him through the metal detector.

Turns out TSA runs a blog, and has video. Lots of video:

After watching the video footage, you’ll see the video clearly shows that this invididual was never separated from her baby by TSA. You’ll also see that a lot of the other claims are also unfounded.

I see this sort of “here’s what really happened” video showing up a lot more in the future of military justice, and generally to the benefit of the government.

2 Responses to “Crimes, Lies, and Videotape”

1. Mike says:

   October 17, 2009 at 1:17 pm

   Agree with all. Cook County (Chicago) cops always got a bad rap for being abusive. They went to video taping all criminal subject interviews and the system has not imploded. It just makes good sense. If only we could get CID on board. If it is good enough for GITMO detainees, it should be good enough for the subjects of CID investigations.
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   March 19, 2011 at 10:30 am

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