Bill Summary

The genesis of this bill is the unfortunate situation in Virginia Beach where detectives were shown to have utilized inauthentic Department of Forensic Science Certificates of Analysis to interrogate suspects. This legislation prohibits law-enforcement officers from using inauthentic replica documents during a custodial interrogation to secure a person’s cooperation or confession or to secure a conviction.

In 2020, Virginia passed legislation which defined custodial interrogation as any interview conducted by a law-enforcement officer in such circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to consider himself to be in custody associated with arrest and during which the law-enforcement officer takes actions or asks questions that are reasonably likely to elicit responses from the person that could incriminate him.

The scope of this bill is very narrow. “Inauthentic replica document” is defined by the bill as any document generated by law-enforcement officers or their agents that (i) contains a false statement, signature, seal, letterhead, or contact information or (ii) knowingly materially misrepresents any fact. This is a bill about protecting the integrity of our forensic scientists and ensuring their reputation remains intact to assist law enforcement and our citizen. 

I understand that police have the right in certain circumstances to use many methods to mislead suspects, but I believe those rights should not extend to falsifying documents.