Page 250 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

Conducting Tough Interviews 251

You then cover the key points, committing the suspect to detailed replies and more and more
indefensible lies. You may, or may not, decide to try to reach the pivotal point and the turn.

THE BUSINESS MEETING of explaining why you have been absent
from work for so long, failed to appear when
You eventually get Bill Smith off the golf asked, abandoned your job …’
course, sit him down in a nice quiet room
and then get into your introductory Bill tries to interrupt, but you continue:
statement: ‘Please let me finish: abandoned your job and
been less than frank with us in telling us that
‘Bill, as you know, we have been trying you were in hospital today when in fact you
to see you for some weeks to get your were playing golf. So that there can be no
explanation. My name is Tom Williams and misunderstanding, we intend to get to the
I am a barrister and psychiatrist [but only if truth, however long it takes and costs. Why
this is true!]. This is Jane Marshall and she did you tell us you were in hospital today?’
is from Human Resources. The purpose of
this interview is to give you the opportunity

With such an opening, Bill Smith is in a very unenviable position, from which he is un-
likely to recover.

Probing and testing questions – Phase B

INTRODUCTION

The structure of this phase obviously depends on the success, or otherwise, of the opening
but it is generally applicable when you are not certain whether the suspect is responsible or
not and want to test his honesty. In effect you become a human polygraph machine. If you
are already certain that the suspect is responsible, you may skip this stage, although it can be
used to steadily increase anxiety.

The following paragraphs describe the questions and possible responses, but you should
always keep an open mind because there is an exception to every rule.

PROFILE OF DECEPTION QUESTIONS

Experience shows that the way liars answer questions can be profiled. For example, they tend
to minimize the seriousness of the case, fail to make committed first person singular, past
tense denials and use subjective truths and evasion. Questions based on these profiles are
especially relevant to elimination interviews and are discussed in Chapter 10. You can adapt
this approach for any interview when there are a number of suspects and you wish to eliminate
the innocent and identify the guilty.

BLOCKING QUESTIONS

Blocking questions, which are usually asked early in an interview, are intended to ‘block off’
an exculpatory, but untrue, explanation later on. A suspect’s denials, when given the opportu-
nity to volunteer information, go towards proving his guilty intent. On the other hand, honest
answers to blocking questions can quickly clear an innocent person of suspicion.