[/floatr]Yomiuri: NPA finds interrogation anomalies
The National Police Agency's newly introduced oversight system has discovered irregularities committed by police investigators during interrogations in 24 cases from September through March, the NPA announced Thursday. The irregularities include letting suspects use a cell phone during questioning, the NPA said. The system -- which was tentatively introduced through March -- was fully introduced Wednesday, covering 11,917 interrogation rooms at about 1,200 police stations across the nation. An NPA official said they hope "to enhance the police staff's consciousness" to discharge their duty properly under the system. According to the NPA, in 11 of the 24 cases in which irregularities were detected under the internal oversight system, the police conducted interrogations for more than eight hours a day or late at night, while in nine cases, suspects were given favors by the interrogators, such as being loaned a mobile phone or given juice. In two other cases, the investigators used intimidating or confusing words or behavior toward the suspects, the NPA said. However, the NPA only gave verbal warnings--instead of strict disciplinary punishments--against the investigators in charge of these cases, as it said it the criminal suspects' confessions in the interrogations were made voluntarily, not forcibly.
I would have thought a more glaring "anomaly" during this period was when police helped a suspect set fire to himself in the interrogation room.
