David E. Zulawski, CFI, CFE, and Shane G. Sturman, CFI, CPP

The investigator uses stories to build a connection with the subject, showing understanding, sharing empathy, and building rapport.

As any investigator, evaluate the information and where it comes from, then check it before you pass it along.

The dumb criminal is likely to be one who becomes careless because of past successes, much like the liar who lies when it is unnecessary.

The timeline interview is useful in situations where there are multiple individuals, locations, or conversations that must be investigated.

When a suspect denies involvement at the onset of an interrogation, it will be extremely difficult to persuade them to change their mind. The...

While nonverbal behaviors are open to interpretation by observers, the word choice individuals use must have been intentionally picked to express the person’s meaning. By examining the words selected, an interviewer can identify underlying information that needs to be more fully explored.

The first thing we should consider when examining lying is the differing cognitive aspects of the liar and truth teller. The truthful person knows they didn’t do the crime, while the liar knows they did and must hide that information from others. There are multiple ways for interviewers to identify liars.

The detection of deception is a complex process, one that is never likely to be fully mastered by man without the help of technology. While researchers have generally focused on single nonverbal cues to identify deception, an investigator has a much richer environment offering a greater depth of clues to lead the investigation.

In the first two parts of this series on thoughts and gestures in interviewing, we looked at gestures that occur in combination with spoken words. These gestures are also sometimes called illustrators as they help the speaker add meaning and context to the words spoken. There are other physical movements people make that are not done to support the actual spoken language. In part 3 we discuss pantomimes, emblems, and adaptors.