Page 234 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

Conducting Tough Interviews 235

The police approach in ‘no comment’ cases is usually absolutely correct in that they ac-
cumulate evidence through witnesses, forensic and other techniques, and go through the
motion of asking questions, and video recording the responses. The rest is left to the wheels
of justice.

In the business world the same approach is not usually possible and repeated ‘no comment’
responses must be dealt with as though they were pathetic refusals to reply. They are invariably
an admission of guilt, based on very poor legal advice, low intelligence and a manifestation
of the ‘flee’ response.

DEALING WITH EVASION, PSEUDO-DENIALS AND OTHER STUFF

Subconsciously, most liars cannot bring themselves to be committed to a firm denial, in the
first person singular, past tense, but will produce pseudo-denials (such as ‘Why should I do
that?’ ) or limited denials or objections (such as ‘I could not have done it because I did not have
the access codes’ ). Even more significant are those cases where a suspect should fail to make a
denial.

If a person does not make a spontaneous-committed denial, the chances are he is guilty

Genuine denials are spontaneous, committed and can be in response to a vague allegation
of responsibility or a direct accusation. You should normally accept spontaneous-committed deni-
als, especially when they are in the first person singular, past tense, as a sign of truthfulness.

You can overcome psuedo-denials, evasions and other devices by emphasizing the strength
of the evidence and pinning the suspect down to detail, thereby increasing his anxiety to
levels at which he believes he can no longer succeed with deception. This usually calls for a
professional and relentless approach, attention to the finest detail and focus on the suspect
and the mechanics of what he has done.

DEALING WITH FREUDIAN SLIPS AND SPOONERISMS

Most times, people let Freudian slips, incomplete sentences, changes in direction within
a sentence and spoonerisms pass without comment; this is an opportunity lost. Such slips
result from thrashing between conscious and subconscious states and between memory and
imagination. Immediately after making them the suspect is vulnerable to further disclosures.
You should stop the suspect at the first opportunity, point out the error and ask what he really
intended to say.

Freudian slips are direct from the subconscious and always have a meaning

DEALING WITH SUSPECTED LIES

Principles

From now on, challenge every bad lie because if you fail to do so, problems will only get worse.
As a minimum, press for more detail and make the liar falsify.

Every falsification is a step towards finding the truth; every successful concealment lie is a step
away