Behind the tape
Expert advice to get the details right in your crime fiction, from police officer Lisa Cutts
Lisa Cutts
Q What’s the standard procedure for recording an interview with a murder suspect and their solicitor?
Claire Stay, via email
A Once arrested, the prisoner is taken to the police station and given their rights. For murder, there is a good likelihood there will be forensic opportunities and a forensic strategy in place. That would include seizing their clothes and putting them in tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt or family bringing in clothes to the police station. The forensics might include fingernail scrapings and cuttings, hand swabs, etc. This will all take time. The police officers who are going to be interviewing the suspect will speak to the solicitor without them present and give some information about what’s happened. For a murder, it will always be staged disclosure. We’re not allowed to lie – we never lie but we don’t have to tell them very much. It’s a bit of a balancing act and we can reveal as we go. For a murder investigation, we have time limits, but they might be held for several days and there might be eight or more interviews.