The videotape offers the possibility of replacing the unreliable reconstruction process with a trustworthy retrieval system. It gives judges, attorneys, and juries the opportunity to have the past replayed. However, a video recording is not an accurate and objective record if what is recorded has been affected by exchanges that preceded it. In the experiment, the police force allowed television cameras in a police station for 5 weeks in 1991. The police were eager to demonstrate that they were handling suspects properly. The filming was intermittent and involved 20 cases. The transcript of a case in which the police were aware that they were being filmed and a case in which nobody was aware that the microphones were running revealed that the official video recordings did not fully or accurately reflect police interrogation techniques or the circumstances surrounding the suspect's statements. As a result, it is impossible to use videotapes to distinguish between ethical and unethical behavior by police and between unpressured and coerced interviews. In fact, the objective of the videotapes is to make the distinction impossible. Therefore, despite the goals of safeguarding the rights of suspects and protecting police officers, videotaping may achieve the latter at the expense of the former. Footnotes