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Who, what, why: Why do police still use cassette tapes?
Who, what, why: Why do police still use cassette tapes? A tiny number of music cassette tapes are sold in the UK every year, but police forces are still using millions of them. Why? For many people, the audio cassette tape conjures up memories of teenage mix tapes. But for many of the police forces in the UK, cassettes are still the primary format for recording interviews. An interview will result in a master tape being produced - duplicates are then submitted as evidence at court or disclosed to the defence. In 2011, The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) estimated that that up to 200,000 tapes are used by each force a year. It is expensive to change over to digital, although the switch might bring long-term cost savings The cassettes appear to work well and are easy to secure and manage There are currently 43 police forces in England and Wales, meaning the police are using millions every year. While some police services are piloting systems with digital recording, 90% of the two million interviews carried out in 2011 were recorded on to tape. Though newer police stations are moving towards CD and digital recording, it seems like the tape will be used for a number of years to come. After their introduction into interview rooms in 1988, it was not until 1991 when the tape recording of interviews became "standard police practice" - the same year that the MP3 encoding format was invented. Some police officers believe in retaining it on the principle of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". It has an ease of portability, where you can take it anywhere in the world and play it The Home Office says that the use of recording devices is not mandated centrally. This means that it is up to individual constabularies to decide what they should record on to. Cumbria Constabulary announced a plan to erase the cassette from interview rooms. But £360,000 for the changeover proved a little bit difficult to budget for and the plan is yet to be pushed through. The tape, first shown off by Philips at the Berlin Radio Show in 1963, a year after its invention, is more than double the age of the world wide web but only 17 years older than the compact disc. But away from the practical uses for tape, in the UK at least, as a mass format for music releases, its time seems to have been and gone. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary removed the term "cassette tape" in 2011. But in police interview rooms at least, it lives on.
conjures up – ассоциируется duplicates – дубликаты, запчасти submitted – представленный evidence – доказательства estimated – приблизительно switch – переключение, переход retaining – сохраняющий mandated – мандатный
This article seems me very interesting. It reveals some little-known facts about the tapes. It’s great that police of England still uses cassetess. Nowadays it seems strange, isn’t it? Do you know about this fact?)
I think that cassettes are the infallible data carrier. So it is natural that police use it. But modern technologies are developed fast so i think in near future cassette would be useless
I think that a record the interview on a tape gives a special flavor of the situation. If it's convenient, so why not use such a wonderful invention?) What about you? Does a tape recorder remind you any detective or investigator?
I don't know about this fact anything But I am interested in this article. It is really unusual that police still use cassettes. I think it is a feature of their activity!!!
But I am interested in this article. It is really unusual that police still use cassettes. I think it is a feature of their activity!!!