Senate debates model interrogation policy in S 285; committee report adopted after failed amendment

The Vermont Senate spent a large portion of its floor session debating S 285, a bill that asks the Law Enforcement Advisory Board and the Vermont Criminal Justice Council to create a statewide model policy for custodial interrogations that relies on evidence-based best practices and aims to prevent false confessions and coercive techniques.

Supporters, led by the senator presenting the bill, said S 285 builds on work from the prior session (S 6) and aims to standardize interrogation methods, require training and certification, and link grant eligibility to adoption of the model policy. The presenter listed objectives including building trust between law enforcement and communities, utilizing evidence-based practices, preventing false confessions and wrongful convictions, and prohibiting threatening or deceptive interrogation techniques in custodial settings. The committee report included timelines: a model policy developed with stakeholder input by October 1, 2024, presentation to the Joint Justice Oversight Committee by December 1, 2024, and agency-level adoption and compliance reviews by specified dates.

Senator Franklin offered a strike-all amendment that would narrow the bill’s substantive prohibitions mainly to juveniles, preserve “targeted deception” in certain adult interrogations, and change definitions and coverage of custodial versus non-custodial interrogations. Franklin argued that targeted deception is a constitutionally permissible investigative tool in serious cases and cited Vermont court precedent (State v. Kolts as referenced on the floor) and instances where law enforcement credited such techniques with identifying victims and prosecuting serious crimes. Franklin also read a statement from multiple prosecutors’ and victim-service organizations and noted opposition from the commissioner of public safety and the attorney general’s office to aspects of the underlying bill.

Proponents of the underlying bill and the committee’s approach noted international trends (the PEACE method and reforms in the U.K., Europe, Australia and New Zealand), cited Innocence Project data about confessions and false confessions, and said the model policy includes safeguards such as requiring corroboration of confessions and electronic recording of custodial interrogations. Several senators stressed protections for juveniles and people with developmental or psychiatric disabilities and emphasized the goal of improving investigative interviewing while reducing reliance on deceptive or coercive tactics.

A roll call took place on an amendment to the committee’s report; the amendment to alter the committee report failed on the floor (vote result reported on the floor as 11–18 against the amendment). The Senate then adopted the committee report (floor announcement: 16–12) and ordered third reading of S 285.

Next steps: S 285 is ordered for third reading; the bill will return to the calendar for a future third-reading vote and any further amendments.