Only interrogate a person believed to be withholding information directly
pertaining to a crime.
Avoid interrogating any person who can be interviewed
successfully.
3. PREPARING FOR THE INTERROGATION.
Base your plan for the interrogation on the facts of the case and the background
information you have developed. Statements of the victim and witnesses will enable
you to reconstruct the crime mentally and to anticipate some of the facts which may
be obtained during the interrogation. (Such statements will add to the information
you got from physical evidence.) Based on the information developed, prepare a
formal outline of the case.
List the main points together with all supporting
statements or evidence. The outline should also contain the questions you plan to
ask the persons to be questioned.
4. PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS.
Improve your psychological advantage during an interrogation by considering the
following:
a. Time of Interrogation. A person suspected of a crime should be questioned as
soon as possible after the report of the incident. This should be, however, only
after the interrogator is prepared and ready. Every minute that passes between the
commission of the crime and the apprehension and interrogation of the suspect
affects a successful interrogation.
Time gives the suspect chances to compose
himself, to make up alibis, and to communicate with accomplices.
Because the
questioning is time-consuming, and cannot be rushed, no time limit should be set.
Do not schedule anything else that may interrupt or cut short the questioning. The
questioning, however, should never be continued for a length of time that would
constitute duress.
b. Place of Interrogation.
As previously stated, a criminal, surprised and
caught in the act of committing a crime, is not usually interrogated on the spot.
Such questioning is normally of little value to establish his involvement in the
offense; that is well established by his being taught in the act.
Properly
handled, however, this interrogation may produce a confession that will clear up
other like crimes, such as a series of burglaries.
Also, such interrogation may
help to identify accomplices. Normally, however, the interrogation is conducted at
the MPI office.
Material is available for taking notes or for preparing
statements, admissions, or confessions.
Witnesses are available to guard against
possible charges of abuse, duress, or coercion and to witness the statements,
admissions, and confessions. At the office or at a regular interrogation facility,
you can arrange for privacy during the interrogation. You can control the physical
environment and make reasonably certain that you will not be interrupted.
5. CLASSIFICATION OF SUSPECTS.
a. The classification of suspects into general groups will help you in deciding
on the approach most likely to succeed in getting a suspect to talk.
1-19
MP0018
Previous Page
