THE INNOCENCE PROJECT: John Oliver addresses Police Traditions

Intro: From Tim Cushing publishing in Techdirt

Here in the US the ends justify the means. And that’s sadly the case when the ends disintegrate under further investigation. If a cop can get a confession by applying pressure, detaining a person for hours, and straight-up lying to them, it’s a win for the LEOs. And they’ll take that win every time, even if it means imprisoning the wrong person and allowing violent people to roam free. Hopefully, a discussion of this bullshit on the national stage will prompt police oversight to take a closer look at interrogation tactics and the track records of agencies that utilize the Reid technique (and other coercive methods) have racked up. What’s already on the record makes it clear, cops would rather see one innocent person convicted than prevent ten guilty people from going free.

The Reid technique may not have been used in all of these cases, but it definitely contributed. As the Innocence Project reports, nearly a third of all convictions overturned by use of DNA evidence relied on false confessions.

Filed Under: false confessions, john oliver, police interrogations, reid technique  

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John Oliver Explains How Cops Lie To People To Rob Them Of Their Freedom

from the Justice-Ave.-is-often-a-one-way-street dept 

Legal Issues

Wed, Apr 20th 2022 10:58am - Tim Cushing

"God help you if you lie to a cop. We’re not even talking about court, where everyone swears to tell the whole truth, etc. before being subjected to testilying by law enforcement officers.

We’re talking about the questioning that happens after law enforcement decides someone is a person of interest. Cops are terrible at solving violent crimes, so it behooves them to obtain a “confession” by any means necessary. “Any means” often means lying. But only cops can do it. If federal officers are lied to it’s a federal crime. Lying to people suspected of committing federal crimes is just considered good (government) business.

John Oliver — who has already tackled (and ridiculed) a number of police traditions — recently addressed the tactics (and lies) officers use to drag confessions out of arrestees, including those who are innocent.

Here’s the video:

Oliver starts by calling out the “Reid technique.” This is an interrogation technique developed by former Chicago police officer John E. Reid — an alleged “polygraph expert” (LOL) — who somehow managed to have a technique named after him despite its initial run at a murder suspect being immediately followed by a recantation. Rather than beat a suspect into a confession, the Reid technique introduced intense pressure, hours of uninterrupted questioning, and lies, lies, lies.