How to Interview a Suspect

At some point, we all interrogate someone that we believe is a primary suspect of a wrongdoing or inappropriate act. For example, a mother questions her child about the broken vase in the living room, a wife accuses her husband of being unfaithful and an employer suspects an employee of stealing from the company. With proper questioning and the ability to understand behavioral patterns, you can learn the truth.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Decide on what knowledge you're hoping to attain from the conversation and how you plan to get the person to tell you before going into the interview.

2. Pick a place that you feel comfortable and familiar with and that has minimal noise and distractions.

3. Establish a baseline for your questions. Ask your suspect non-threatening questions so that you can evaluate their behavior patterns and nervous responses. You can judge their reactions throughout the conversation based on if they're nervous or fidgety with the basic questions.

4. Ask your suspect open-ended questions. Let him answer in his own words.

5. Watch for red flags with nonverbal cues such as looking down, fidgeting, throat clearing, sweating, scratching, playing with hands and slumping.

6. Pay attention to the suspect's use of words during the interrogation. Professional investigators find it helpful to listen for pronouns. If a suspect steers away from pronouns like "I," and uses "the" and "it," this can be an indication that she's innocent because she isn't taking ownership.

7. Lead your suspect backwards through the event to make sure that all of the details still match up with the first story.

Tips & Warnings

• Repeat a question two or three times until the suspect answers.