The report of the steering committee chaired by Mr Justice Esmond Smyth makes a strong call for mandatory audio/video recording of Garda interviews in certain types of case, and it illustrates some difficulties gardai will face in operating the scheme.
The report on "Audio and Audio/Video Recording of Garda Questioning of Detained Persons", presented to the Minister in March and published yesterday, details six years of research and pilot schemes.
Regulations for mandatory electronic recording were introduced two years ago for a pilot scheme in which recording could be enforced. The previous pilot scheme, which required that detainees voluntarily submit to electronic recording, had such a low take-up rate that the committee considered the results inadequate. It was found that suspects made admissions in 69 per cent of cases in stations with mandatory recording, compared to 65 per cent of cases in stations where interviews were not recorded. Even more significantly, detainees were willing to sign their interview notes in 68 per cent of cases in the pilot stations, compared to 56 per cent of cases where the scheme was not in operation.
The committee concluded that "electronic recording not only does not endanger the effective operation of the criminal justice system at the level of Garda interviewer, but may, in fact, enhance its efficacy".
However, most of the gardai who conducted the pilot interviews said recording the interrogation made their job more difficult. More than half of them experienced difficulty with recording equipment during interviews. Nine of the 41 gardai who conducted the pilot scheme interviews said they would feel less confident going into court to prosecute a case in which the interview was recorded.
Another 10 said it would depend on the circumstances of the case, while the remaining 22 said they would be more confident going into court with the interview recorded.
Some gardai felt they had to concentrate too much on "watching their language" and had to be very careful "about any inducements they might offer. This put them under a great deal of pressure and could impede the purpose of the interview.
"One or two respondents expressed strong apprehensions about the interviewing gardai being identified on the tapes," according to the report. It was claimed that, in one case, a tape was played in a pub in Cork to "tutor" criminals on how to behave in interviews.
More than three-quarters of the gardai involved in the pilot project said recording the interviews made note-taking slower or more difficult.
The report says the requirement for gardai to maintain a contemporaneous note of the interviews, in accordance with judges' rules, led to Garda interviewers taking verbatim notes "out of a belief that their notes would be, in some sense, competing for accuracy and validity with the tape record of the interview".
Many of the gardai in the pilot scheme felt their note-taking was "destroying the spontaneity and natural progress of the interview". It prevented them from asking "snap questions" and gave the suspect "time to think". In all, 15 of the 41 gardai taking part felt note-taking should be scrapped when interviews were being recorded.
However, after "repeated efforts on the part of Garda management, the perception of Garda interviewers towards contemporaneous note-taking gradually changed". The committee was satisfied that note-taking should be retained, because gardai will still have to submit a contemporaneous note of interviews, but not the transcripts of taped interviews.
Should the Director of Public Prosecutions seek clarification of the notes, or should the defence lawyers challenge the accuracy of a particular note, it might become necessary to provide a full or partial transcript of a tape recording. However, the committee believes that this "would only arise in exceptional circumstances".
Occasional failures of the equipment used to record the interviews are to be examined by the steering committee. Some 3 per cent of interviews were interrupted by equipment faults. The committee will present a final report to the Minister for Justice next year.