From police interrogation to police record
Tessa C. van Charldorp · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · 2012
Tssa C. an Chrldorp In the Netherlands a police record is constructed by one or two police officers in an interrogation room and is based on the interaction that takes place between the police officer(s) and the suspect. Therefore, the construction of a police record is accomplished through interaction. The officer generally asks questions and the suspect generally answers the questions. While interrogating, the officer types up the record on his or her computer. How this record is constructed cannot be seen from the written version of the document. Questions are often left out and negotiations have no trace in the written document. Most police records are presented as first-person narratives but they are not always written in the words of the suspect. This thesis, which is based on unique material collected at a police station, makes the interactional origin of the written police record visible. The similarities between the talk and the text, but also the alterations, additions and deletions and how they came about, are thoroughly investigated in this thesis. UITNODIGING