Page 209 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

210 Deception at Work

Notes of significant points, denials and admissions may be made at the end of the formal
interview, jointly by you and any corroborating witnesses. These should then be shown to
the suspect and his agreement sought. If he agrees they are correct, he should be asked to sign
and date them.

A note should be made (again signed and dated) of any points with which the suspect does
not agree. The notes should be annotated with the date and time they were completed and
the names of the people involved. A photocopy of the notes may be handed to the subject for
his retention.

COVERT TAPE RECORDING

In most countries it is legally permissible to record any interview or conversation without the
suspect’s knowledge6. However, to ensure that recording is effective, the following procedure
is recommended:

• An interview room with soft, sound absorbing furnishings should be selected, as air condi-
tioning and other barely audible noises can completely obliterate a recording. A test should
be made before the interview begins.

• Two high-quality stereo recorders should be used in parallel as Murphy’s Law states that,
‘the most important recording always self-destructs’.

• The recorder should have sufficient battery or mains power, memory or tape capacity to
complete the interview without interruption.

• All end of tape buzzers and recording lights should be deactivated or covered with opaque
tape.

• The tapes should be loaded and removed by an independent person (for example, the in-
terviewer must not leave the room to change tapes!) who should keep a record of the time
each tape was loaded and removed.

• Immediately after the interview has finished, the recording lugs on both sides of all original
or master tapes should be broken to prevent over-recording.

• Two working copies of each tape should be taken as soon as possible and a note should be
kept to establish the chain of evidence7. If necessary, the copies can be filtered to remove
background noise, but under no circumstances should the original be modified.

• The original tapes should be delivered, as soon as possible after the interview has finished,
to the company’s legal representative against a signed receipt.

• Notes should be transcribed from the copy tapes and checked carefully.

The original tapes should be retained securely until all litigation connected with the interview
has been completed.

When an interview is being covertly tape recorded, you should make a few trigger notes,
if for no other reason than that by failing to do so, you may cause the suspect to ask the in-
evitable question: ‘I see you are not making any notes. Is this being tape recorded?’ If you are
asked at any stage in the interview whether it is being tape recorded, you must tell the truth.
You should not feel anxious or guilty but should respond:

6 However, check this with local lawyers. Some plonkers argue that covert recording contravenes the fair data
collection rules of the Data Protection Act; this is nonsense, especially when crime is being prevented or investigated
7 In court you will have to prove the continuity of every exhibit from the moment it was obtained