108 Human Rights in Counter-Terrorism Investigations Professional skills and interview training Adhering to a human rights-based approach in investigations impels the police to become more professional in their work and, thus, more effective. Abusing or neglecting human rights is “lazy policing”. It is a relatively quick and easy task to force a confession out of a suspect by ill-treating him or her. It can be a little more time consuming to gather enough evidence to make it irrelevant whether or not a suspect confesses. But with compelled confessions there is always the concern that an innocent person has been wrongly convicted. The establishment of a formal set of rules governing the conduct of police questioning of suspects has been advocated by a number of international bodies. This may be a “Code of Practice”, form part of the law of criminal procedure, or be merely an internal policy document. Its form is largely immaterial, provided that it sets out a framework that gives clear guidance to interviewing officers. Adherence to the rules is a means of ensuring that a suspect’s human rights are not breached and provides effective protection for police officers against allegations of impropriety. The exact content of the rules will be governed by the local legal tradition and local conditions. The following topics are examples of what a code of practice should deal with: • At the outset of each interview, the detainee should be informed of the identity (name and/or number) of all persons present; • The identity of all persons present should be noted in a permanent record, which should detail the time at which interviews start and end, as well as any request made by the detainee during the interrogation; • The detainee should be informed of the permissible length of an interview, the procedure for rest periods between interviews and breaks during them, places in which they may take place, and whether the detainee may be required to stand while being questioned; • The detainee should have the right to have legal counsel of his or her choice present during any interview; • All interview sessions should be recorded, and the detainee or, when provided by law, his or her counsel should have access to these records; • The authorities should regularly review procedures governing the questioning of persons who are under the influence of drugs, alcohol or medicine, or who are in a state of shock; and