I have been asked for advice (very informally) from a person I am sure would not (probably could not, he was so evidently unaware of any police procedures at all) have misled me on circumstances and I thought I'd run it past the glitterati herein.
He was invited to the police station to be interviewed in respect of a possible criminal offence in respect to filling in a firearms licence application. On attending he was taken to an interview room and a tape recording device, tapes already inserted, fitting the description of the standard police recorder was switched on. He was cautioned and informed that he was being interviewed about a possible offence which may end up in court. OK so far?
The interviewer then switched of the recorder and told the interviewee that it was not likely to go to court, and then switched the recorder on again before continuing the interview. A similar happening took place a number of times during the interview. At the conclusion of the interview the interviewee was not asked to sign a master tape label and was not given a copy of the tape. Several other minor peculiarities also were described but the switching on and off of the tape recorder is the biggie, at least I hope it is. I have been retired from enforcement for about 4 years now. Have I missed something about interview procedure, or is the interviewing officer a complete knobhead?