Let's go to the tape recording, Nassau DA's plan to tape police witnesses of shootings is a good idea because first impressions are best NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition

• Published in: Newsday
• Main Author: GARY L. WELLS. Gary L. Wells is a professor of psychology at Iowa State University
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 15.05.2007
• Edition: Combined editions
• Subjects: Rice, Kathleen

One can remember a gun instead of a cell phone, a lunge forward instead of a step backward or an uttered threat instead of a groan if these better fit one's evolving account of what happened. The passage of time facilitates these evolving memories, because the human mind needs time to construct coherent stories of events experienced. Accordingly, initial interviews would have fewer of these "filled-in" memories. Police have some understandable concerns about DA [Kathleen Rice]'s proposal to record initial interviews with police who witness shootings by fellow officers. One concern expressed was that what is recalled right after the incident might not be complete. Clearly, this is true. In fact, people notice and remember only a small fraction of any complex event, whether it is at the initial interview or at later interviews. Finally, the focus of critics regarding Rice's proposal has been on how recording of initial interviews might undermine the credibility of the witnessing officer. But the actual effect is likely to be exactly the opposite in most cases. Good initial interviews that are recorded increase the credibility of the initial account and can thereby help to free the shooting officer from allegations of misconduct.