Police interrogation techniques
#1
I was reading a news story the other day on a murder trial. "Brian Cole was feeling increasingly frustrated with his wife, who was having an affair, and considered getting a divorce in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, he conceded under questioning Friday by a prosecutor.
Cole also testified that he knew how to deflect questions and other tactics from training he received years earlier as an Army interrogator.
But the 38-year-old man, charged with murdering his wife, Heather Dawn Mallory, denied that he lied to detectives or that he fabricated a story to cover anything up."


Now I don't much care about his murder case (of course I feel for the victims) but what caught my eye was, just what was there about these "interrogation techniques" that police use, that knowledge of them could let you deflect questions, and just what are these "other tactics" that interrogators use as well?

This led to a days worth of internet research on interrogation techniques. And, what I saw is mind boggling! I have often felt I have a feel for detecting deception and lies, and this field of study lays out the physical reasons why, and expands on what I've mostly felt intuitively before.

This is more than can be explained in a forum post, but just for starters this link would get you started: http://people.howstuffworks.com/police-i...gation.htm , and a google search reveals far more. There are companies specializing in teaching their courses on this to police, so the internet information is sort of vague, but after reading from several sources it started coming together for me. This is all psychological brinksmanship at its finest.

In conclusion? If you are ever faced with interrogation techniques being used against you, unless you are highly trained in this stuff you probably can't beat them by lying. You would be far better off to imagine an imaginary spot on the wall and stare at that, cultivate hatred for your interrogator, and demand a lawyer. They hate those things. Smiling

Oh, BTW - "In the United States, scholars estimate that somewhere between 42 percent and 55 percent of suspects confess to a crime during interrogation."
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#2
I know you don't watch TV but there are a couple of shows that are about how you can tell if someone is lying by watching subtle body movements, body language etc. I think one is called "Lie to me" or something.

I don't know how much of what they say is actually trueLaughing. I know that those stupid CSI shows just make up whatever they want and pass it off as the truth.


Oh, BTW - "In the United States, scholars estimate that somewhere between 42 percent and 55 percent of suspects confess to a crime during interrogation."

And what percent of these people are basically stupid? I watch a TV show called the first 48. It's about real detectives , real murders and real investigating and real interviews.
From what I see most of the murderers are not the the sharpest tool in the shed. The detectives get a LOT of them to either confess or to incriminate themselves when all the suspects had to do was shut the hell up.

BTW I have never heard or seen any of these real homicide detectives use or talk about any trick ways they can tell if someone is lying.

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#3
(06-26-2011, 08:45 AM)PonderThis Wrote: I was reading a news story the other day on a murder trial. "Brian Cole was feeling increasingly frustrated with his wife, who was having an affair, and considered getting a divorce in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, he conceded under questioning Friday by a prosecutor.
Cole also testified that he knew how to deflect questions and other tactics from training he received years earlier as an Army interrogator.
But the 38-year-old man, charged with murdering his wife, Heather Dawn Mallory, denied that he lied to detectives or that he fabricated a story to cover anything up."


Now I don't much care about his murder case (of course I feel for the victims) but what caught my eye was, just what was there about these "interrogation techniques" that police use, that knowledge of them could let you deflect questions, and just what are these "other tactics" that interrogators use as well?

This led to a days worth of internet research on interrogation techniques. And, what I saw is mind boggling! I have often felt I have a feel for detecting deception and lies, and this field of study lays out the physical reasons why, and expands on what I've mostly felt intuitively before.

This is more than can be explained in a forum post, but just for starters this link would get you started: http://people.howstuffworks.com/police-i...gation.htm , and a google search reveals far more. There are companies specializing in teaching their courses on this to police, so the internet information is sort of vague, but after reading from several sources it started coming together for me. This is all psychological brinksmanship at its finest.

In conclusion? If you are ever faced with interrogation techniques being used against you, unless you are highly trained in this stuff you probably can't beat them by lying. You would be far better off to imagine an imaginary spot on the wall and stare at that, cultivate hatred for your interrogator, and demand a lawyer. They hate those things. Smiling

Oh, BTW - "In the United States, scholars estimate that somewhere between 42 percent and 55 percent of suspects confess to a crime during interrogation."

Beat them by lying. Never . Remember Martha Stewart? She went to prison for lying , not insider trading.
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#4
(06-26-2011, 10:47 AM)tvguy Wrote: BTW I have never heard or seen any of these real homicide detectives use or talk about any trick ways they can tell if someone is lying.

Of course they don't talk about these kinds of things, but from my reading this is basic stuff from Criminal Justice 101. The physical signs of lying are real, and were first documented by polygraph operators. One of the most famous courses (and among the oldest) is http://www.reid.com/. They noticed things like, when a person is remembering something that already happened their eyes go to a certain location (which varies by individual, so they start with "baseline questions" to determine what an individuals pattern is), while when they are thinking of an answer (like going over their alibi for example) that uses a different part of your brain, and your eyes go to a different place while you access that. These are reasons investigators are fixated so much on the eyes. Body language plays a part too, and so do the answers given. It's quite amazingly detailed.

I might have known there were TV shows on this. Smiling
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#5

Quote:Ponder ... Of course they don't talk about these kinds of things, but from my reading this is basic stuff from Criminal Justice 101.

I don't think they are hiding anything Ponder. It's not like they know some secrets they they don't want to get out. The cops on these shows are very upfront and often they mock the make believe TV crimes showsLaughing I think for the most part they know people are lying from years of experience. I have no doubt they are taught the basic stuff.
I watch these shows and one of the reasons I like to watch is to see how well I do at guessing if someone is being truthful or not. I have to admit I'm almost always right. Not because I know any of these techniques but just by listening and watching and I guess just from knowing people. Plus usually liars suck at lyingBig Grin






Quote:The physical signs of lying are real, and were first documented by polygraph operators. One of the most famous courses (and among the oldest) is http://www.reid.com/. They noticed things like, when a person is remembering something that already happened their eyes go to a certain location (which varies by individual, so they start with "baseline questions" to determine what an individuals pattern is), while when they are thinking of an answer (like going over their alibi for example) that uses a different part of your brain, and your eyes go to a different place while you access that. These are reasons investigators are fixated so much on the eyes. Body language plays a part too, and so do the answers given. It's quite amazingly detailed.

I might have known there were TV shows on this. Smiling


From what I have seen When real detectives think it's very important to know if someone is telling the truth they ask them to take a lie detector test. I'm not trying to claim that any of the methods you mention are not being used.




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