A RELUCTANCE TO RECORD
MPD trails other law enforcement agencies in audio, video documentation of homicide interrogations
Hope Chambers, the mother of Terrell Johnson, talks about the interrogation of her son by Memphis Police investigators. Terrell, now 21, was 17 when he falsely confessed to being a getaway driver in the 2013 slaying of contractor J.P. Shelley. “He just said, ‘OK. I was in the car with them,’ ’’ recalled Chambers, who was escorted out of the Memphis Police Department interrogation room before her son confessed. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)
An investigation by the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis reveals MPD is a prominent outlier in a national movement among police departments to fully record the questioning of suspects during homicide investigations, making its detectives frequent targets for allegations of impropriety.
Topics
criminal justice Homicides Innocence Project Institute for Public Service Reporting Memphis Police DepartmentMarc Perrusquia
Marc Perrusquia is the director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis, where graduate students learn investigative and explanatory journalism skills working alongside professionals. He's won numerous state and national awards for government watchdog, social justice and political reporting. Follow the Institute on Facebook or Twitter @psr_memphis.
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