We have all had the experience where a person tells us
something in private that he never would have told us in a public setting. It is
well accepted that it is easier to talk about sensitive matters with only a
single person present. Yet, how many times are victims interviewed in the
presence of a family member, or a witness is asked questions in front of other
possible witnesses? Frequently, suspects are questioned with two or more
investigators in the room. Each of these situations violates the person's
privacy and will result in less truthful information being learned.
The lesson is clear. If we want someone to be open and candid
with us, we must create an environment which affords that person privacy. Too
often we assume that privacy is not an important issue. Consider an employee who
confidentially reports to a supervisor that two co-workers are using marijuana
during lunch break. The supervisor may wrongly assume that because the employee
initially came forward with the information that he or she will be willing to
repeat it in the presence of the people being accused. Retractions of
allegations under this circumstance generally are not the result of a fabricated
charge, but rather the psychological difficulty of having to repeat allegations
in front of the person accused. In the above scenario, the supervisor should
have taken a detailed statement from the employee (dates, times, other
witnesses, etc.) and requested that the named co-workers come in for separate
private interviews.
Whenever feasible, an investigator should arrange to elicit
information in a private environment. This is especially important when
questioning witnesses or a victim. Frequently, these individuals will have
discussed the event with others before being interviewed. If those individuals
are present during an interview of the witness or victim, the information
developed will be perfectly consistent with what was previously reported to
friends or family members. However, if the witness or victim is interviewed in
private, much more accurate information is learned. At a crime scene this may
mean separating a witness from friends or family members, taking a solitary walk
with a victim, or talking to a suspect in the back seat of a squad car. Whatever
the environment, the investigator should create a sense of privacy.
The ideal interview environment, of course, is one conducted
at the investigator's place of business in a room designed specifically for that
purpose. Such a room should have two chairs facing each other, perhaps 4 feet
apart, without any physical barrier such as a desk or coffee table between them.
The environment itself should afford privacy. That is, the door should be closed
and recording or monitoring devices should not be conspicuously displayed. If a
third person must be present in the room, e.g., a witness, this individual
should be seated in a remote corner of the room, out of the subject's sight, and
remain totally silent and uninvolved during the course of the interview.
