PoliceOne.com has reported on some intriguing deception detection techniques. Cognitive interviewing has now been used to detect possible deception when questioning suspects about crimes.
According to this article and the Force Science Institute, there are two extremely helpful techniques when trying to elicit deception when interviewing criminal suspects:
1. Asking a suspect to sketch one or more drawings to illustrate his story
and
2. Asking him to repeat his account in reverse order of occurrence, beginning with the end of the story and working backward in time.
“A deceptive subject’s cognitive resources already are being strained to the limit to create his story and maintain it consistently. Increasing that load even more with these demanding and surprising tasks can provoke potential signs of deception, if you know what to look for,” clarifies Dr. Edward Geiselman, a Force Science certification instructor and a psychology professor at UCLA.
According to the article Cognitivbe Interviewing (CI) elicits between 25-40 percent more correct and relevant information than conventional questioning. CI is used by many governement agencies including the FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
CI was originally developed din six stages, but Dr. Geiselman has incorporated the latest research to extend this type of questioning to criminal suspects with CIS – Cognitive Interview for Suspects, which includes two new additions (listed above).
As with the best methods of obtaining truthfulness building rapport played an important role in the research and method developed. It also helps in delineating a baseline for the suspect.
Dr. Geiselman notes that more direct research in the comparison of his method (CI) and the traditional interrogation techniques is “certainly warranted.”
Where were you yesterday at 3:45pm? Don’t lie we have your finger prints. Why did you commit this crime?