Grant to boost police interrogation videos at departments in Suffolk

Suffolk County, Riverhead and Southampton Town police departments are to receive a portion of $43,450 in state funding to buy or upgrade video equipment for interrogations, officials announced yesterday.

The Suffolk district attorney’s office is to distribute the funds for eight Suffolk police locations and the two East End departments.

The money is part of nearly $700,000 in state funding distributed to district attorney’s offices in 29 counties across the state to either purchase or upgrade existing equipment for 150 agencies.

“The practice of video recording interrogations helps prevent wrongful convictions and at the same time, protects investigators from false allegations,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.