prelims

by MAC-3

  Overview of the Interview Process

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  Positive behavior is necessary if you are to achieve proficiency as an interviewer. Excellent interviewers modify their behavior to inspire and convince interviewees to provide truthful information, and with sufficient practice and dedication, many develop into capable interrogators. By applying honed interviewing skills and focusing your energies on improvement, you will become competent at solving complicated investigative problems.

  It’s not force, but finesse that counts in human interaction.

  Contact

  Points A and B of the polyphasic flowchart (see Figure 9.1) define the first four minutes of the actual interview. Thus span of time is the contact section of the initial phase (Figure 9.5). Your main purpose during these first four minutes is to establish a rapport with the interviewee (see Chapter 6). Also during this time, you will begin using the tactics referred to as hidden persuaders (see box).

  You will continue to use these tactics throughout the interview, even into the follow-up phase, when inconsistencies are resolved, confrontation takes place, and admissions and confessions are sought and obtained.

  Figure 9.5

  The contact section of the initial phase (the first four minutes of each interview). The investigator and the interviewee have their first verbal and nonverbal exchanges during this time.

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  THE HIDDEN PERSUADERS

  Throughout your career, you will learn to use certain tactics when gathering information during an interview. For example, you will learn to build rapport with the interviewee, to maintain a positive attitude, and to listen actively. I call these tactics the hidden persuaders. They are so-called because they help the interviewer display favorable characteristics and screen out less favorable ones. They are designed to show the interviewee that the interviewer can be trusted. If they are applied sensitively and skillfully, they will have significant and positive effects on the outcome of your interviews.

  In most interviews, the investigator has at least one hidden agenda, some unannounced reason for conducting the interview. For example, one hidden agenda when interviewing a victim is to determine whether a crime actually took place. The practiced use of the hidden persuaders will help conceal the interviewer’s true agenda and will help the investigator outsmart the interviewee.

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  Consider the human needs of interview partici-

  pants.

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  Build and maintain rapport.

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  Use a positive attitude.

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  Apply flexible methods.

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  Cover suspiciousness.

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  Use creative imagination.

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  Apply the self-fulfilling prophecy.

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  Exhibit human warmth, sensitivity, empathy, respect, and genuineness.

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  Use nonjudgmental acceptance.

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  Listen actively and attentively.

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  Be patient.

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  Be positive: Use positive silence, positive eye contact, positive personal space (proxemics), positive body motions (kinesics) and body language, and positive touch (haptics) when appropriate.

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  Cover personal values.

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  Maintain a positive, neutral stance.

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  Use positive power and positive control.

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  Control personal anger—avoid antagonizing or

  harassing interviewees.

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  Don’t use coercive behavior.

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  Use observation, evaluation, and assessment.

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  Avoid the third degree (mental or physical torture used in an effort to gain a confession).

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  Use closed questions and open questions when

  appropriate.

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  Keep questions simple, and avoid ambiguously

  worded questions.

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  Dare to ask tough questions.

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  Mentally assume an affirmative answer.

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  Use leading questions appropriately, and ask self-appraisal questions.

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  Handle trial balloons calmly.

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  Assume more information is available.

  First Impressions

  You make your first impression during the first 10 to 45 seconds of an interview. This is your opportunity to show that you are calm, cool, collected, friendly, firm, fair, human, and compassionate. First impressions are important in helping to cement a close, but temporary, relationship to encourage the interviewee’s cooperation. In those first seconds of human interaction, you convey your intentions through nonverbal messages. You express human warmth through your tone of voice and your gestures and mannerisms.

  These things significantly affect the outcome of the interview.

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  Although face-to-face interviews are preferred, telephone interviews are sometimes necessary. In a telephone interview, you can express your positive qualities through your tone of voice, timing, and silences.

  On occasion, an interviewee will confess or make some significant admission within the first few minutes of the interview without being specifically encouraged to do so. Be ready for this.

  The Interviewee’s Evaluation Process

  Observation, evaluation, assessment, and intuition are vital elements of investigative problem solving. They usually begin with the first verbal and nonverbal exchanges in an encounter, and they continue until the end. You can expect the interviewee to start an evaluation process with his or her first glimpse of you. How do you look? Do you appear to be a professional? How do you sound? Do you sound overbearing? Ruthless? Warm and caring? Consciously or subconsciously, even the slowest, least educated interviewees evaluate you to decide whether it is safe to reveal information or whether they will be abused in the process. The interviewee evaluation process takes place whether you want it to or not. Remember that your tone of voice, choice of words, and body language express particular attitudes. This is the time to signal that you want the interview to be a friendly interaction.

  Subsequent interviewees will evaluate the interview process, in part, based on how you treated preceding interviewees. The message about you and your methods will be conveyed to everyone—that you are okay or not, fair or not, biased or not.

  There is no question that you will be judged.

  There is some strategic advantage if the interviewee is not under arrest when interviewed; faced with less of a threat, the interviewee experiences less distress and is more likely to cooperate. Although the interviewee may still be uncomfortable, your professional demeanor and friendly ways will make you seem worthy of receiving important information.

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  Elements of Contact

  Introduction and Greeting

  A formal introduction will help

  establish you as someone in whom it is safe to confide. When possible, it is useful to separate yourself from any prior investigations of the crime you are asked to solve. For example, I speak softly, not in a weak fashion but in a modulated tone that I hope will convey my confidence and human warmth. I might say, “Hello, I’m Mr. Yeschke. Would you follow me, please?” as I meet the interviewee in a waiting room before we walk to my office down the hall. Then, when we reach my office, I may say, “Please, have a seat here,” as I motion to a particular chair.

  During the first few minutes, the tone of the interview is determined, and it may last for minutes, hours, or days. If an interviewee offers to shake hands when we meet, then I do, but I don’t routinely offer
a handshake to each interviewee. I usually try to maintain a professional aloofness to signal the serious nature of the inquiry. I try to appear reserved, not stuffy.

  Generally, I feel that small talk is not appropriate, and I avoid all forms of intimidation and abusiveness that might in any way spark resentment or defensiveness. I want victims, witnesses, and suspects alike to feel free to talk to me.

  Greeting interviewees cordially helps them feel at ease.

  Despite your innocent manner, try your best to encourage them to provide the information you need. Help interviewees to relax enough that they do not feel threatened, but bear in mind that eliminating all tension is neither possible nor to your advantage.

  Some degree of tension in an interview often helps the interviewee think actively and respond productively (OSS Assessment Office 1948, p. 138).

  Seating

  For the interview, choose a location that provides both privacy and comfort. Determine the seating arrangements in advance. When possible, I arrange the chairs so that the interviewee and I will face one another across a space of six to eight feet and there will be an uncluttered wall behind me. As the

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  interview progresses, I usually move my chair to within about four feet of the interviewee. I try to use chairs of similar design and comfort. Obviously, chairs and their location are a ridiculous consideration at an accident scene, but the important point is to avoid moving too fast into the interviewee’s personal space.

  Announcing Your Objective

  Announce the objective of the

  interview in answer to the interviewee’s usually unasked question about why he or she is being interviewed. Tell the interviewee that you want to determine how the incident you’re investigating happened and that you want to prevent similar events from occurring in the future. For example, you might say, “The purpose of our talk today is to discuss the building materials that are missing from the warehouse. I’m looking for information that will help me determine how the materials were removed so that I can make clear recommendations to prevent another disappearance in the future. I’m interviewing several people, and I need your assistance to get a better view of the circumstances. First, let me get a little background data about you to get to know you a little better.”

  By orienting interviewees to the objective of your interview, you encourage them to be less secretive and defensive. When they realize the seriousness of your inquiry, interviewees may comply more completely. Never announce your objective as identifying and prosecuting the guilty party. Although interviewees often want to know how their interview is relevant and significant to your inquiry, it is not wise to explain your overall objectives or hypothesis (Dexter 1970, p. 32). Too much explanation may cause them to become apprehensive about how their help might harm fellow human beings, reducing their willingness to cooperate.

  Alternatively, they might not accept your explanation and might provide only limited data that might not be truthful (Bennis et al.

  1973, p. 216). Hence, too much explanation gives directive powers, the power to lead an interview down a particular path, to interviewees unnecessarily.

  When beginning an interview, adopt an open manner that invites the interviewee to share any thoughts, observations,

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  opinions, or facts that have any bearing on the crime. This invita-tion should be implied, not actually spoken, and you should show appreciation for the cooperation when it comes. If there is a time to open the door to the truth, it is at this point of the discussion, in the first four minutes, when the interviewee is determining whether it is okay to talk to you. In those first minutes, the interviewee senses if you are neutral or biased, if you are trying to gather facts or taking unfair advantage of people.

  Setting the Tone

  After you have announced the objective

  and during those critical first few minutes of the interaction, ask the interviewee questions that will be easy to answer: the spelling of his or her name, date of birth, number of years of employment, current position, years of education, marital status. These questions give the interviewee the opportunity to vent some emotional energy and to feel more comfortable. At this stage of the investigation, you may note evasiveness and lack of cooperation.

  From the beginning, use positive tactics that encourage cooperation, such as active listening, empathy, respect, and believability.

  Forensic interviews are not intense interactions in which verbal combat takes place. Try for a soft harmony to promote comfort and thought. Use a toned-down style to avoid any suggestion of intense confrontation. When discussing the circumstances of the incident, I recommend that you use the word if to soften the questioning. Using if tends to prevent any implied accusation in your voice. Too often, investigators interrogate every interviewee in a prosecutorial manner in hopes of quickly unmasking the guilty party. I see no justification for treating every interviewee as though he or she were guilty. I avoid using quick questions and burning stares. At the outset of each interview, my choice of words and phrases is intended to exhibit my positive attitude and expectations. Setting a positive tone with each interviewee pays off.

  Doing so communicates a professional self-image.

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  Contact at the Crime Scene

  At a crime scene, the victim’s fear is so immediate and powerful that it cannot be dissipated by the victim’s exercise of self-control alone. Your patience and assistance will be required. A hurried approach will only cause confusion and heighten the victim’s distress. Calm the victim by saying something like

  “You’re safe now.” Showing proper regard for the victim’s feelings builds empathy, which facilitates questioning and promotes accurate recollections. Fear of reprisal and intimidation may prevent witnesses as well as victims from cooperating; to prevent intimidation, move witnesses away from suspects before identifying and interviewing them. Ask witnesses to recall everything observed during the incident; be sure that you don’t contaminate the information they provide. For example, as the witness presents recall, avoid editorializing by interpreting as the recall progresses, otherwise you may find the recall tends to follow your expectation or interpretation.

  Therefore, keep your evaluation to yourself so as not to influence the recall.

  Because of the urgency of some criminal investigations, it is not always possible to prepare fully for an interview. In such a situation, gather basic information immediately; later, in a recontact interview, obtain additional facts under more favorable conditions. Remember, though, that the greater the time lapse between the incident and the interview, the less likely it is that witnesses will be able to report accurately what they observed. In addition, they may be reluctant to cooperate fully once the excitement of the situation has subsided. Contamination is another concern.

  People tend to seek group consensus, and they will often adopt the group opinion as their own regardless of whether they believe it to be correct. If not separated quickly and interviewed, witnesses may compare stories and may adopt parts of the accounts of others at the crime scene. Make a special point of interviewing alibi witnesses promptly to reduce the possibility that suspect

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  and witness will take the opportunity to corroborate their stories and cover up the suspect’s participation in the crime.

  PRIMARY PHASE

  The primary phase follows the contact section of the initial phase of the interview. During the primary phase, the interviewer strengthens the rapport begun in the contact section, gathers more information through active listening, and watches for signs of deception. By this point, you have established that you are open to discussion, and when you are seen as a warm person, you are more likely to gain the information you are seeking.

  At the beginning of the primary phase (Figure 9.6), the
interviewer gradually moves his or her chair closer to the interviewee (the moderate location discussed in Chapter 10). Between points B and C of the interview process (Figure 9.7), the investigator reviews the case information with the interviewee as a prelude to asking additional questions. All the while, he or she tries to maintain a positive tone and build rapport.

  Exactly how you will proceed—which questions you will ask and how you will formulate them—depends as much on the quality of the interaction you have been able to establish as on the facts you need to gather. The investigator’s adaptability is vital. Being able to think on your feet is important to seeking out the truth. (See Chapter 11 for more on question formulation.) The investigator moves from a structured to a semistructured approach between points C and D on the polyphasic flowchart (see Figure 9.1). Encourage interviewees to think carefully and to try to remember details. Allow them the time they need to think.

  Don’t interrogate yet! That will come later.

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  Figure 9.6

  The primary phase. During this part of the interview, the investigator observes, evaluates, and assesses the interviewee’s verbal and nonverbal behavior.

  Figure 9.7

  Expanded view showing the primary phase.

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  “Bones”

  Around points C and D on the flowchart, I begin to use what I call bones—nonaccusatory questions that reveal the elements of the complete incident. These semistructured questions work together, much as the bones of the body make up a whole skeleton. In the same way that muscle and tissue surround our bones, all of the details of the incident and the interviewee’s involvement surround the central facts of the incident. The semistructured questions you use in this phase of the interview are designed to reveal, through an interviewee’s pattern of responses, whether he or she is lying or telling the truth.