Interview & Interrogations Developed by: Officer Vivian Lopez, SRO Ironwood Ridge High School Oro Valley Police Department

Fact: The majority of cases are solved by obtaining confessions, not with forensic evidence (despite popular belief).

Types of Interviews Field Interviews Consensual Non-Consensual Investigative Detentions (reasonable suspicion) Custodial Interrogations (probable cause)

Bad Habits lead to bad interviews Failure to interview Authoritarian demeanor/too aggressive Prejudice Failure to investigate Early Handcuffing/unnecessary handcuffing Failure to control temper Partial investigations Failure to build rapport Failure to properly document

Miranda Two Elements need to be present for Miranda to apply: Custody (not free to leave) Interrogation Miranda does not apply to traffic stops or brief field interviews based on reasonable suspicion

Does Miranda Apply? Questioning at the police station Questioning in a police vehicle Questioning at the crime scene Questioning at the suspect’s home

Interrogation vs. Interview Interview: basically a conversation (“Tell me what happended. “ Interrogation: inherently involves Persuasion and/or Pressure.

Interrogation finds out the why You really need to know your Criminal Law and the elements of a crime, because some crimes require intent. Example: Burglary requires felonious intent, and the only way to get this kind of information is through an interrogation.

Types of Confessions Verbal Written Tape recorded (digital recorders) Hard Confession Soft Confession

Interviewer Questions The interviewer should formulate questions aimed at discovering the following: Was there premeditation? Were actions deliberate? Was there malicious aforethought?

Culpable Mental State the state of mind of an individual while committing a crime; a crime requires a guilty act or omission (the actus reus) be committed with the required degree of guilty mind. Generally, certain acts are crimes only if done with a particular state of mind, and that a certain sort of criminal act is more or less serious depending on the perpetrator's state of mind at the time.

If we consider the killing of one person by another person, such conduct may be 1) no crime if done in self-defense, 2) a serious crime if done negligently and 3) the most serious sort of crime if done purposefully (murder). The term, Culpable Mental State is synonymous with mens rea (guilty mind).

Culpable Mental State Criminal Negligence Recklessly Knowingly Intentionally

The Interview Obtain Basic Information Obtain Descriptors Orientation Narration Cross-Examination Resolution

Basic Information Full Name Alias/Nicknames/AKA’s Date of birth Social Security Number Driver’s License number Address Phone number(s) (cell, home, work) Place of Employment

Descriptors Height Weight Eye Color Hair Color/ Bald Race Gender Mustache/beard/Goat-T

Orientation Introduce self Handle administrative issues Miranda (if necessary) De-escalate stress, anger Talk about neutral topics to assess subject Explain interview process (“I need your side of the story”)

Narration Begin dealing with the substance of the case Ask open- ended questions Why are you here? What happened? Tell me about? What happened next?

Cross-examination Direct Questions Yes/No questions (last resort) Positive confrontation Theme building Supported confession Questions that gain clarification Paraphrase what they have told you

Resolution Wrap-up issues Explain next step of investigation Thank the subject for speaking to you Return to neutral topics Arrest or Arrange for future contact

Tips Control Temper Be subjective (be human) Build Rapport Be soft, minimize wrong doings Gain trust Be confident Be convincing Give examples/Tell parables Don’t be intimidated

More on culpable mental state http://verdict.justia.com/2012/01/11/why-cant-jurors-distinguish-knowing-from-reckless-misconduct

Last but not least Documentation- Concise and well written reports. If its not in a report, it didn’t happen.