Page 345 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

294 Deception at Work

OTHER SCAN TYPE METHODS

Don Rabon has developed an alternative method to SCAN, usually called Discourse Analysis.
Mr Rabon is a brilliant teacher and his courses are highly recommended. Also the Internet site
www.theirwords.com is becoming a useful source on the subject and for US$50 you can buy
a macro for Microsoft Word® that is an excellent tool for statement analysis.

LIMITATIONS IN THE FRAUD AREA

In fraud cases, in which there may be thousands of pages of affidavits, statements and exhibits,
conventional SAS approaches are not appropriate and in fact, are often a waste of time because
most of the documents available for analysis are not freestyle versions. However, there are
usually some documents in every case, probably written by the suspects to achieve or excuse
their deception, which can be revealing. Selecting what is worth analysing is the key.

SAS means being selective

WHAT IS NEEDED IN THE FRAUD AREA

Going back to basics, the objectives of statement analysis are to identify specific areas of
possible deception to enable suspects to be more effectively interviewed or to direct external
investigations. The analysis should also assist in the development of an accurate fraud theory
and diary of events (see page [xref)).Thus the content, background, external evidence etc. has
to be interwoven with the pure analysis to give the optimum results.

More than a ‘pure’ type of SAS is needed

The structure of written, exculpatory, stories can be represented as in Mind Map 10.
Mind Map 10 represents the fact that in most truthful exculpatory stories there is back-
ground detail, clarification and emotional overtones that affect everything that happened.
This background, or scene setting, is critical to interpreting the individual topics, scenes or
activities which should normally appear in sequential order and with consistent detail. One
or more of the topics may be regarded as the ‘critical issue’ and the way the subject leads to this
though a prologue (which may be in the general background or within the scene or topic) and
closes it through an epilogue can be very revealing. In most deceptive stories the prologue is
extended while the liar prevaricates (see page [xref])
Each element of background and individual scenes or topics can be separately analysed,
in ways described later, to produce useful output The differences between a pure and holistic
approached to statement analysis can be demonstrated by the following example.3

3 Mr Sapir’s excellent work on this case is acknowledged