Was this part of NYPD Blue realistic?

August 24, 2015 6:53 PM

On the late, great show NYPD Blue, the detectives regularly attempted to get suspects to write out accounts of their past deeds so as to implicate themselves in their own crimes. This occurred so often that it seemed that it was the standard procedure in that unit. Are there police departments in the real world that try to get suspects to do this on a regular basis?
posted by Mr. Justice to Law & Government (9 answers total)

I think it happens a lot, though more with the intent of locking them into a story.
posted by purenitrous at 7:23 PM on August 24, 2015

I believe most of what you see in NYPD Blue was accurate as far as police work goes. Creator David Milch has spoken openly about his relationship with officer Bill Clark, who was his consultant. They also wrote a book. Milch is also on record as saying that Clark once told him that if he ever shows a cop reading a criminal their rights before getting a confession, I "will walk off the show immediately and permanently as no good cop would do that."
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 7:56 PM on August 24, 2015

My friend the federal agent told me that a big success metric of suspect interrogation is to just keep the suspect talking. About anything. Talk, talk, talkity, talk. It's the "give a man enough rope" theory. Having them write it down would just be another way to extend the interaction, and/or give you more things to talk about. Everything will be recorded, anyway.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:59 PM on August 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I was arrested when I was twelve, and was instructed to write out what happened in my own words. I didn't have a lawyer or adult present to advocate for me. It didn't occur to me that I could refuse. I imagine that the police are generally no more scrupulous in their treatment of adults than they are with children.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 9:19 PM on August 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Police love to have a written confession. Of course, TV shows will depict the suspect as invariably guilty, and tricked into confessing by the clever police. Reality tends more towards the cops wanting the conviction whether the person is innocent or not, and doing what it takes to get it.

Physical beatings, "rough rides" and other forms of torture are common in big-city American PDs, especially New York and Chicago. So yeah, police do a lot of things to elicit confessions, and a written confession is better than a verbal one, but whatever you're going to see on US network TV will be incredibly sanitized and biased in favor of the police (with maybe a thin veneer of "oooh edgy cop because he just cares too much about getting the bad guys" thrown on top).
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:41 PM on August 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

In the famous "don't talk to police" lecture by law school professor James Duane, a police officer outlines some of their interrogation methods, one of which is asking the suspect to write an "apology letter" to the victims.
posted by ODiV at 11:01 PM on August 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

Mod note: Just a quick note: answers that are based on some sort of information, source, or experience more helpful than "I feel this is probably true/untrue" sorts of responses. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:22 AM on August 25, 2015

Handwritten confessions have long been believed to be more reliable than oral ones (Criminal Investigation, Orthman & Hess, p 200) and were indeed standard practice everywhere at the time of NYPD Blue. Now that many interrogations are videotaped, suspects are often presented with pre-printed statements to sign, but sometimes may still be asked for a handwritten statement. There are many, many examples from recent cases, including a pretty famous one from Amanda Knox.
posted by Lame_username at 12:31 PM on August 25, 2015

In the famous "don't talk to police" lecture by law school professor James Duane, a police officer outlines some of their interrogation methods, one of which is asking the suspect to write an "apology letter" to the victims.

This was a scene in The Wire, too, which is if not a documentary at least documentary fiction.
posted by Sebmojo at 6:44 PM on August 25, 2015