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Projekt Karin - ett nationellt projekt för kvinnofrid

Smart Technique Secures Documentation of Interrogations

Our main task was to outline a draft for video recordings of interrogations both with adults and with children. The 12 conversation rooms in the Project Karin were equipped with specially adjusted techniques in order to secure high quality of picture and sound recordings. The techniques have also been adjusted to the needs of special groups, e.g. a light child voice can be amplified while a darker adult voice can be toned down. Teenagers should have the possibility to chat with the interrogation leader when a face-to-face conversation feels too difficult. All the recordings are stored on a central hard disk.
In order to make the technique both effective and discrete, it has been integrated in the beautifully decorated conversation rooms. The recording of pictures and sound are made with analogue video cameras, hidden microphones and Lavalier microphones, connected through an amplifier to a lap top with a software programme that can steer the camera with the arrow keys.

The equipment in the rooms used for interrogating children is a bit more advanced. The voice is filtered through a voice processor so that a light, thin child voice is amplified while a dull, strong male voice is toned down, the rustle of paper is filtered away, etc. All the measures are taken to optimise the sound that is recorded and that eventually will be used at a trial. When children are interrogated, we always use two kinds of cameras. An inset picture shows the interrogation leader and the child while the rest of the screen shows the child´s body language and facial expression. There is also a third camera  installed in the ceiling in case we want to document when the child is drawing or painting something. The recording equipment and the steering of the cameras are placed in a special technique room where prosecutors and a special representative can follow the interrogation at the same time as they maintain contact with the interrogation leader.

 
Chat for Teenagers
Apart from this work, we are working on a programme similar to the ones the teenagers use when they chat with each other on the Internet. The object is to connect two computers, without any connection with another network so the interrogation leader can have a dialogue by chatting with the teenager. The chat will then be transcribed as an alternative to an ordinary dialogue interrogation.  At the same time, a web camera in the computer and another camera installed in the room, will record the teenager. If the teenager manages to talk about the difficult things during the chat, the interrogation leader can take over and proceed with the interrogation the normal way and record it.

Contact

Skåne County Police

Håkan Torshall
Inspector

Phone:
+46 40 20 11 15

Mobile:
+46 708 51 38 34

E-mail:
hakan.torshall@polisen.se

Anna Gustafsson
Project manager

Phone
+46 40 20 11 29

Mobile
+46 70 211 00 30

E-mail
anna-s.gustafsson@
polisen.se

Project manager: Anna Gustafsson, Skåne County Police, 205 90 Malmo, Sweden. Visitingsddress: Drottninggatan 18, Malmo, Sweden. Phone +46 40 20 11 29