New Missouri law requires all crime suspect interviews to be recorded beginning Aug. 28

On Aug. 28, a new state law will require law enforcement agencies to make audio recordings of all their interviews with suspects they've arrested on specific charges.

Local authorities say that while they do generally try to record those types of interviews when serious crimes such as murder and rape are involved, they must work on revising their policies to accommodate the new law.

If agencies do not comply with the new requirements, they could lose state funding.

Cape Girardeau police chief Carl Kinnison said his officers typically carry digital recorders and estimates at least 95 percent of interviews with suspects are recorded, but the department does not yet have a written policy.

"We'll put a policy together that reiterates what the state law says," Kinnison said.

Recent upgrades to the department's recording equipment will help make the transition easier, Kinnison said.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is examining its current policies to determine what it needs to change to comply with the new law, but it generally already records its interviews, said Lt. John Hotz, spokesman for the patrol.

The Jackson Police Department does have written policies requiring the recording of interviews of anyone suspected of involvement in a homicide and permitting the recording of interviews pertaining to other serious offenses such as rape and first-degree assault.

"We record almost all of them," said Jackson chief James Humphreys.

Humphreys said the department will revise its policies to make sure they meet the standards of the new legislation.

In the past, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department has made the decision about whether to record interviews on a case-by-case basis, but it is currently addressing the issue, said Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson.

Dickerson said that detectives at the sheriff's department will usually record any interview conducted in the department's interview rooms.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said the law's penalty of loss of funding resolves his concern that unrecorded confessions would be thrown out of court.

Swingle said the bill contained a lot of "common-sense exceptions," including not requiring the recording of statements made at a crime scene.

Swingle said he thinks the new law will be beneficial in the long run, though he added that it may extend criminal cases because the entire recorded interviews would need to be played.

"If someone confesses in the last 10 minutes and you end up having to play the whole tape, it'll chew up a lot of court time," Swingle said.

Last week, a sexual misconduct case resulted in a mistrial when a jury in Poplar Bluff failed to reach a verdict after hearing that the defendant, Lester Sladek Jr., recanted his confession.

If Sladek's confession had been captured on tape, Swingle said, "chances are that jury would not have been a hung jury."

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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