By JENNIFER QUINN
Associated Press Writer
LONDON- Britain’s top police officer secretly recorded a conversation he had with the country’s attorney general, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said Sunday.
Sir Ian Blair also taped three conversations he had with senior officials from the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity, in line with police policy.
The complaints commission is investigating the July death of Jean Charles De Menezes, who was shot by police officers after he was mistaken for a suicide bomber. London’s police have apologized for killing the 27-year-old Brazilian, who was shot in the head seven times.
Police would not say why Blair taped the talks with the complaints commission officials or the conversation he had with Lord Goldsmith, the government’s chief legal adviser. That discussion was about the admissibility of wiretap evidence in court, the spokesman said.
In Britain, it isn’t illegal for individuals to tape conversations if the recording is for their own use.