Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

implemented to ensure that any statement elicited can be presented in a court of
law. This has created a situation where few members of the department receive
any significant formal training in interrogation techniques. 587 Indeed, Deputy
Superintendent Coleman reports that when he moved from a uniformed to an
investigational unit he received no additional formalized training. Instead, he
reports that 90% of a successful interrogation is based on intuition, which can
only be developed through experience, on-the-job training, and mentoring.
At the same time, the department uses many of the general techniques
advocated by the Reid School and others. They focus heavily on conducting
thorough pre-interrogation investigations. Detectives stress the importance of
gathering all of the information on the suspect, victim, crime scene, etc., before
entering the interrogation room. In addition, they try not to commence the
interrogation without a clear sense of their goals and objectives. Like all other
law enforcement personnel interviewed, Boston detectives believe that building
rapport and conveying empathy are the keys to a successful interrogation. The
homicide detectives dress in suits every day, are clean-shaven, and work in a
building that one described as looking like an “insurance office”; they note the
importance of removing the suspect from the police station environment. The
setting contains very few reminders that the suspect is in police custody, and the
officers remove all signals that could remind suspects of the consequences of
their actions. The interview/interrogation room is a small, plain room, with only
a whiteboard on the wall and a few chairs and a desk. The room has a two-way
mirror that “no one uses” because a) any time the door opens to the room with the
observers, the people standing behind the mirror can be seen, and b) every suspect
knows what the mirror is and asks to have the blinds closed.
However, the detectives report that the theme-development strategy advocated
by the Reid Technique does not work with most of the suspects they encounter.
They postulate that this is because the strategy is based on the idea that people
feel guilty when they commit crimes, but many of the suspects the homicide
division encounters feel little, if any, remorse for their crimes, are not afraid of
jail, and are mainly concerned with protecting themselves from retaliation on
the street. Instead, the detectives find that, after establishing rapport based on
kindness and professionalism (as opposed to false friendship), a straightforward,
no-nonsense presentation of the situation and evidence is the best approach to
secure a confession.
Despite the lack of formalized training, there is a general pattern to
interrogations conducted in the homicide division. The detectives begin with the
procedural requirements. When the suspect is brought in, usually from the local
police precinct, the detective lets him know that he is under arrest and informs
him of the charges. He advises the suspect of his right to a telephone call, and
587
Supervisors in the BPD further believe that even the small amount of interrogation technique
training that is provided is only somewhat useful, because it must be adapted for the various ages,
cultures, and experiences of the trainees, resulting in a tendency to teach to the lowest common
denominator.
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