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Constructing Truth: the FBI's (non)recording policy
Forbes ^ | 27 July, 2011 | Harvey Silverglate

Posted on 08/11/2018 6:11:58 PM PDT by marktwain

Instead of electronically recording its interviews and interrogations, the FBI’s policy is to rely on agents’ typewritten “section 302 reports,” crafted to reflect the supposed substance of the exchange. At such sessions, one agent takes notes by hand while the second agent—in the traditional two-agent FBI interviewing team—conducts the interview/interrogation. Tape recordings are almost never done because such recordation is – believe it or not – against formal written FBI policy. Therefore, the 302 report becomes the sole arbiter of what was, and was not, said; moreover, as we will see below, any interviewee who contests its accuracy risks prosecution. Hence, a potential witness’ script is written – and not necessarily by the witness himself – the moment he opens his mouth in the presence of an agent.

On its face, and in an era where digital recording has become ubiquitous, there seems to be little justification for a policy of not recording interviews. Paul K. Charlton, a now-former US Attorney in Arizona, certainly thought so when he broke ranks and ordered the mandatory recording of any statements from an investigative target in cases undertaken by his office. Charlton’s policy was resisted, and he was fired soon after instituting it. The FBI’s general counsel’s office produced an internal memorandum (PDF), later made public by the New York Times, listing four separate justifications for the non-recording policy. Two of these arguments, it turns out, are weak, a third is laughably weak, and a fourth is terrifying in its practical implications for the fair, and truthful, functioning of the federal system of criminal justice.

Consider, to begin, the two merely weak arguments (all quotations regarding the policy below taken from the FBI’s internal memorandum (PDF)):

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: 302; 302s; fbi; fbiinterviews; interviews; policy; recording; reformfbi
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This is a 2011 article on the FBI policy of not recording interviews.

One of the reasons given for the policy: Recorded interviews might lead jurors to believe the FBI was coercive or misleading.

1 posted on 08/11/2018 6:11:58 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

If the FBI ever asks to interview you, just tell them you’ll be recording the whole thing.


2 posted on 08/11/2018 6:22:53 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Democratic socialism is when the majority of people vote to steal your property.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

In my personal experience with an FBI interview, I was told exactly that.

I wanted to record it. They said if I did, there would be no interview.


3 posted on 08/11/2018 6:24:36 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain

total lies, They record EVERYTHING!! Ask Martha Stewart!! This is such BS!!


4 posted on 08/11/2018 6:29:17 PM PDT by raiderboy (Trump has assured us that he will "shut down the government to get the WALL in September"r)
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To: marktwain

total lies, They record EVERYTHING!! Ask Martha Stewart!! This is such BS!!


5 posted on 08/11/2018 6:29:21 PM PDT by raiderboy (Trump has assured us that he will "shut down the government to get the WALL in September"r)
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To: raiderboy
total lies, They record EVERYTHING!! Ask Martha Stewart!! This is such BS!!

Quite a bit of difference between surreptitious recording and recording interviews.

6 posted on 08/11/2018 6:31:48 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain

That’s a good way at least to kibosh the interview....


7 posted on 08/11/2018 6:31:50 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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To: marktwain

Yes the best way to shut a FBI agent down is to have a recorder.


8 posted on 08/11/2018 6:34:35 PM PDT by riverrunner
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To: raiderboy

Uh, they didn’t record Hillary...


9 posted on 08/11/2018 6:35:55 PM PDT by fhayek
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To: marktwain
Nonsense. This policy is only in place to give the FBI maximum latitude to frame anyone for anything they feel is appropriate. They can spend million on a phony dossier, but cannot record interviews? Nonsense. This agency is antiquated and should be uprooted, washed inside out, and replaced. Unfortunately, the new one will be no better than the previous one.
10 posted on 08/11/2018 6:39:19 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: marktwain

Most leo agencies dont want to be recorded ...not just fbi

IRS often wont talk to you either if you insist on recording them

I know there are plenty of good cops but the system in general is generally f*cked and geared at success via intimidation ...if for one year every single person charged with a crime demanded and went to trial the syatem would completely collapse...which leads me to the conclusion we have far too many laws.


11 posted on 08/11/2018 6:40:39 PM PDT by Manuel OKelley
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To: raiderboy

I would want my own recorder and my own recording, truth be told.


12 posted on 08/11/2018 6:42:55 PM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Fungi
Nonsense. This policy is only in place to give the FBI maximum latitude to frame anyone for anything they feel is appropriate. They can spend million on a phony dossier, but cannot record interviews? Nonsense. This agency is antiquated and should be uprooted, washed inside out, and replaced. Unfortunately, the new one will be no better than the previous one.

A lot of truth in your post.

The policy gives the FBI control over what is remembered and how it is remembered. It is an extremely powerful tool that puts most of the cards in the FBI's pockets.

But if the new agency will be just as bad, there is no reason to change, is there?

How about we require the FBI to record interviews, maybe wear body cameras?

13 posted on 08/11/2018 6:44:10 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain
They said if I did, there would be no interview.

So did you tell them you still wanted to record it?

14 posted on 08/11/2018 6:47:32 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (<img src="http://i.imgur.com/WukZwJP.gif" width=400><p> zXSEP5Z xnKL3lW XywCCJd)
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To: marktwain

What happens if, failing to have a recording device, one refuses to talk to agents?


15 posted on 08/11/2018 6:56:01 PM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

No.

I wanted to give them some information after 9/11.

So I did not insist on a recording.

Could of done it surreptitiously, of course.


16 posted on 08/11/2018 6:56:44 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: Roccus
What happens if, failing to have a recording device, one refuses to talk to agents?

You tell them no. They go away.

17 posted on 08/11/2018 6:57:48 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain

Thank you.


18 posted on 08/11/2018 6:58:38 PM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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To: Rurudyne

What a joke” they don’t record” my ass. They only one they did’nt record IN HISTORY was hillary!! Because they obstructed justice!! And those that fixed that felon’s case should spend life in prison.


19 posted on 08/11/2018 6:59:33 PM PDT by raiderboy (Trump has assured us that he will "shut down the government to get the WALL in September"r)
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To: marktwain

“Tape recordings are almost never done because such recordation is – believe it or not – against formal written FBI policy. “

Apparently they didn’t read their link FBI policy memo they referenced and linked.


20 posted on 08/11/2018 7:04:50 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1)
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