Interrogation recording bill

AUGUSTA – A bill that orders a state policy written on police taping of interrogations was on Gov. John Baldacci’s desk after winning final Senate approval Thursday.

The bill, LD 891, which was scaled back from its original version amid weeks of debate and revisions, requires Maine’s Criminal Justice Board to set policies for audio or video recordings by police by January.

Its sponsors said that if Baldacci signs the measure into law, Maine will become the fourth state in the nation to have a statewide policy on taping of interrogations.

In its original form, the bill would have required taping of police interrogations in cases involving murder, gross sexual assault and those in which juveniles are charged.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, said the compromise makes sense because it gives law enforcement officials time to come up with the best policy, “while guaranteeing that a year from now interrogations of serious crimes will be recorded.”

Strimling said the bill protects police from false accusations of misconduct while at the same time protecting the rights of those being interrogated.