Interrogation Tactics

[Who_What_When]

I don't know if this has bothered anyone else, but the one thing I find frustrating throughout all the interviews with everyone, is the interrupting on LE's part. In every interview I've seen and read, the LE doesn't let anyone finish their sentence and I think they might be missing the opportunity to get some additional information. Even when questioning Casey, it seemed like she would start to answer them and they would cut her off or add to her sentence. This is not to say that I think they are doing a bad job, I just would like to hear more from the witnesses when they are being interviewed. JMO.

 

[TxRose]

I don't know if this has bothered anyone else, but the one thing I find frustrating throughout all the interviews with everyone, is the interrupting on LE's part. In every interview I've seen and read, the LE doesn't let anyone finish their sentence and I think they might be missing the opportunity to get some additional information. Even when questioning Casey, it seemed like she would start to answer them and they would cut her off or add to her sentence. This is not to say that I think they are doing a bad job, I just would like to hear more from the witnesses when they are being interviewed. JMO.

I whole-heartedly agree. I said this once upon a time on some thread and got bashed for it. Everyone jumped in to defend LE saying they felt they could break her, and had no idea she wouldn't give up. But I always thought the best way to catch someone in a lie was to let them talk. They interrupted her constantly in this interrogation. They never allowed her answer many times. I think they would have gotten alot for more out of her if they had shut up and let her talk her way into a hole. I also felt like they pushed and pushed and then just as she admits what she did wasn't helping, or was lying - they move to something else! ARG!

I know we have hindsight, and we now know what questions should have been asked...or ones that we would have liked to ask. I also know this interrogation was done somewhat informally and was not probably prepared in advance. But I really think they dropped the ball many times and let her squirm out.

Here's my biggest pet peeve. After they FINALLY get her to admit she doesn't have a job, they are asking her again about when she dropped off Caylee with the nanny. Casey proceeds to say she was coming home from WORK and went to pick up Caylee at Sawgrass. HELLO! You just admitted you didn't have a job! But they let it slide and never said anything. Why not? Did they not catch it...or what? And that leads to me to the fact that they never asked what she did all day if she didn't have a job? And what the heck did she need a nanny for if she didn't work? Duh.

 

[nancy botwin]

I whole-heartedly agree. I said this once upon a time on some thread and got bashed for it. Everyone jumped in to defend LE saying they felt they could break her, and had no idea she wouldn't give up. But I always thought the best way to catch someone in a lie was to let them talk. They interrupted her constantly in this interrogation. They never allowed her answer many times. I think they would have gotten alot for more out of her if they had shut up and let her talk her way into a hole. I also felt like they pushed and pushed and then just as she admits what she did wasn't helping, or was lying - they move to something else! ARG!

I know we have hindsight, and we now know what questions should have been asked...or ones that we would have liked to ask. I also know this interrogation was done somewhat informally and was not probably prepared in advance. But I really think they dropped the ball many times and let her squirm out.

Here's my biggest pet peeve. After they FINALLY get her to admit she doesn't have a job, they are asking her again about when she dropped off Caylee with the nanny. Casey proceeds to say she was coming home from WORK and went to pick up Caylee at Sawgrass. HELLO! You just admitted you didn't have a job! But they let it slide and never said anything. Why not? Did they not catch it...or what? And that leads to me to the fact that they never asked what she did all day if she didn't have a job? And what the heck did she need a nanny for if she didn't work? Duh.

LOL, I finally got my sister to watch Nancy Grace with me one night over the holidays when they were replaying the interview tapes and at the exact spot you've mentioned, my sister (who knows almost nothing about this case) was like "WAIT?!? I thought she didn't have a job? How was she coming back from work??? I don't want to listen to this anymore, she freaks me out."

I think it's part of Casey's MO that, in order to communicate with her, you HAVE to be willing to engage or sidestep several lies to make any sort of headway. And it's important to remember, IMO, that at this point, LE thought they were working against the clock to find and save a living child who was in danger. If they had stopped Casey at the "on my way home from work" lie, they wouldn't have gotten to address the most important issue: where she supposedly left Caylee.

I think a lot of the jaggedness and conversational cut-offs occur during Casey's interrogation because LE knows time is of the essence. Casey clearly doesn't care about this and so they have to direct and redirect conversation away from her pesky phone charger and everything else she blathers on about, so they can obtain the necessary info and find Caylee.

I think the time-sensitive imperative to find a missing child also accounts for LE's decision to arrest Casey so quickly-- another thing LE is now being criticized for. I do think the decisions and tactics used by LE at this state of the investigation reflect that their sole purpose was to recover a missing child. Retrospectively, those choices weren't the best way to ensure Casey's conviction, but I think LE had their priorities straight from Day 31.

 

[Who_What_When]

I whole-heartedly agree. I said this once upon a time on some thread and got bashed for it. Everyone jumped in to defend LE saying they felt they could break her, and had no idea she wouldn't give up. But I always thought the best way to catch someone in a lie was to let them talk. They interrupted her constantly in this interrogation. They never allowed her answer many times. I think they would have gotten alot for more out of her if they had shut up and let her talk her way into a hole. I also felt like they pushed and pushed and then just as she admits what she did wasn't helping, or was lying - they move to something else! ARG!

I know we have hindsight, and we now know what questions should have been asked...or ones that we would have liked to ask. I also know this interrogation was done somewhat informally and was not probably prepared in advance. But I really think they dropped the ball many times and let her squirm out.

Here's my biggest pet peeve. After they FINALLY get her to admit she doesn't have a job, they are asking her again about when she dropped off Caylee with the nanny. Casey proceeds to say she was coming home from WORK and went to pick up Caylee at Sawgrass. HELLO! You just admitted you didn't have a job! But they let it slide and never said anything. Why not? Did they not catch it...or what? And that leads to me to the fact that they never asked what she did all day if she didn't have a job? And what the heck did she need a nanny for if she didn't work? Duh.

This is exactly how I felt. They kept going into a different direction and when she would actually say something, they would move to something else. Silence is sometimes better. Although I do understand they were looking for a missing child so they were rushing through it, but that doesn't explain why they would do this in her interviews later on in the case. I saw the same thing with other interviews. It was like "Oh this is starting to get good" and then WHAM, they moved to another question or finished the person's sentence. Worse yet... taking phone calls and have them stop in mid sentence.

 

[SWEETSPYRIT]

Great reading. This part especially got me.....If the suspect starts fidgeting, licking his lips and or grooming himself (running his hand through his hair, for instance), the detective takes these as indicators of deception and knows he's on the right track.
Look how often in the jail videos we see her smoothing her hair.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/police-interrogation1.htm

The website is great. If you have never "interviewed" or "interrogated" this site has lots of great info. There are so many different things that are taken into account. It isn't a matter of "just get the info from the person". It's not that easy. And at the interview with KC - no one knew "exactly" what was going on. JMHO

 

[txsvicki]

The detective told Casey that George and Cindy know that she's lying. Everyone knows that she's lying, and that Cindy was the one who kept calling his cell phone. That may not have been true, but it didn't phase her. Casey almost seemed to know what they were asking before they even finished some of the questions. She had no problem answering quickly.

 

[STEADFAST]

This is exactly how I felt. They kept going into a different direction and when she would actually say something, they would move to something else. Silence is sometimes better. Although I do understand they were looking for a missing child so they were rushing through it, but that doesn't explain why they would do this in her interviews later on in the case. I saw the same thing with other interviews. It was like "Oh this is starting to get good" and then WHAM, they moved to another question or finished the person's sentence. Worse yet... taking phone calls and have them stop in mid sentence.

I've felt the same way about that interrogation or interview. They even interrupt her when she starts to talk. Plus, they keep asking her yes/no questions like "Correct?", so she can just answer, "uh-huh."

 

[Who_What_When]

I've felt the same way about that interrogation or interview. They even interrupt her when she starts to talk. Plus, they keep asking her yes/no questions like "Correct?", so she can just answer, "uh-huh."

Hate to sound like Casey, but I was getting "Sooooooo Frustrated" during the interviews!!! :curses: lol

 

[TxRose]

LOL, I finally got my sister to watch Nancy Grace with me one night over the holidays when they were replaying the interview tapes and at the exact spot you've mentioned, my sister (who knows almost nothing about this case) was like "WAIT?!? I thought she didn't have a job? How was she coming back from work??? I don't want to listen to this anymore, she freaks me out."

I think it's part of Casey's MO that, in order to communicate with her, you HAVE to be willing to engage or sidestep several lies to make any sort of headway. And it's important to remember, IMO, that at this point, LE thought they were working against the clock to find and save a living child who was in danger. If they had stopped Casey at the "on my way home from work" lie, they wouldn't have gotten to address the most important issue: where she supposedly left Caylee.

I think a lot of the jaggedness and conversational cut-offs occur during Casey's interrogation because LE knows time is of the essence. Casey clearly doesn't care about this and so they have to direct and redirect conversation away from her pesky phone charger and everything else she blathers on about, so they can obtain the necessary info and find Caylee.

I think the time-sensitive imperative to find a missing child also accounts for LE's decision to arrest Casey so quickly-- another thing LE is now being criticized for. I do think the decisions and tactics used by LE at this state of the investigation reflect that their sole purpose was to recover a missing child. Retrospectively, those choices weren't the best way to ensure Casey's conviction, but I think LE had their priorities straight from Day 31.

I see your point, and I know they didn't know all that we know now. But I guess I just found it frustrating that they would ask a question and not wait for a response. Why ask if you don't wait for an answer? Isn't that wasting valuable time? They didnt seem to pressed for time when they would ask something, then interrupt her as she started to talk, and then re-phrase the whole question again in agonizing detail!

I know they thought they were dealing with something and someone quite different. I don't think they did a bad job - but I just don't think they did a great job. I think their primary objective should have been to quickly figure out what she was saying that was true, and what was a lie. Once they realized everything was a lie - they should have focused on WHY she was lying. To me that would be the best way to figure out what might have happened. It just seemed obvious to me early on that the bullying tactic just wasn't working with her. I would have tried something else that's all. But that's because I'm like Mary Poppins..."practically perfect in every way". LOL. (Not.) :crazy:

 

[cyberborg]

I whole-heartedly agree. I said this once upon a time on some thread and got bashed for it. Everyone jumped in to defend LE saying they felt they could break her, and had no idea she wouldn't give up. But I always thought the best way to catch someone in a lie was to let them talk. They interrupted her constantly in this interrogation. They never allowed her answer many times. I think they would have gotten alot for more out of her if they had shut up and let her talk her way into a hole. I also felt like they pushed and pushed and then just as she admits what she did wasn't helping, or was lying - they move to something else! ARG!

I know we have hindsight, and we now know what questions should have been asked...or ones that we would have liked to ask. I also know this interrogation was done somewhat informally and was not probably prepared in advance. But I really think they dropped the ball many times and let her squirm out.

Here's my biggest pet peeve. After they FINALLY get her to admit she doesn't have a job, they are asking her again about when she dropped off Caylee with the nanny. Casey proceeds to say she was coming home from WORK and went to pick up Caylee at Sawgrass. HELLO! You just admitted you didn't have a job! But they let it slide and never said anything. Why not? Did they not catch it...or what? And that leads to me to the fact that they never asked what she did all day if she didn't have a job? And what the heck did she need a nanny for if she didn't work? Duh.

Exactly!!! Let KC talk herself into a hole and, when you eliminate something then go around again and drill into the story with the lie ommitted -- press her on specifics. KC is only good at specifics when she is embroidering a lie.

I completely agree but then LE had had a tough long day, they expected KC to crumble when confronted and, they gave her enough breathing space to collect herself and make come backs.

LE were obviously very frustrated.

 

[DawnTCB]

Well I am not sure if I would call it lying on the part of LE but I did find it interesting in an interrogation-tactic kind of way when the detective says:

"Everything you've told me this morning... from... from Zani, from the addresses, from Universal, from all these people that you've talked to including people that you didn't even give me their names. I found them and talked to them."

Since this was about 18 hours after the 911 call, when I first heard this I thought, sheesh, there is no way he talked to ALL the people KC talked to, much less additional people who she hadn't mentioned. I think I literally rolled my eyes when he said that because I was thinking, "Yeah, right. The players list in this case runs at least 100 and if you interviewed them all in 18 hours I will eat my hat."

However, I understand that was a tactic designed to let KC know that they had gotten info from "some" people outside of who she had told them about, so that she might think they had talked to that one somebody she hadn't mentioned who would blow it for her.

And in hindsight, I wish they had let her talk more. If just for the entertainment value.

Overall I am all thumbs up for LE in this case, unlike some other cases I have followed in the past. :thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

And about this:

Great reading. This part especially got me.....If the suspect starts fidgeting, licking his lips and or grooming himself (running his hand through his hair, for instance), the detective takes these as indicators of deception and knows he's on the right track.
Look how often in the jail videos we see her smoothing her hair.

Completely off topic but if you watch the GMA interview with MR, notice when he licks his lips. :waitasec:

 

[TxRose]

Overall I am all thumbs up for LE in this case, unlike some other cases I have followed in the past. :thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

....Respectfully sniped by me....

I am thumbs up for LE in this case too. Even though I was frustrated with the interrogation! It has been very frustrating for them dealing with Casey, with the A's, all the attorneys and experts chiming in, all the media attention...and I think they have acted very professionally. I think they have shown alot of compassion to the A's as well - though they would obviously disagree I am sure. It is easy to sit back and pick apart things they should or could have done. I think in the long run all that matters is that Caylee receives justice. And I think they are well on their way to ensuring that.

 

[strach304]

I think LE handled it the way they did because at that time they thought it was an accident and she panicked and covered it up. They gave her the opportunity early on and were very nice and understanding. Remember they said all the stuff about the pressure to live up to your parents expectations. It's really hard to be a young single mom, etc.

Then when YM and JA came down hard on her and she sat there and just told more stupid bull I honestly don't know how they refrained from slapping her upside the head.

However, notice that when YM and JA left the room and detective Happy was talking to her so soft and smoothly she started jabbering away. Problem is it was the same bull he just heard her say. Even in jail when they asked about her talking to someone in LE she said Happy. That never happened. I want to speak with the FBI, that never happened.

 

[strach304]

Completely off topic but if you watch the GMA interview with MR, notice when he licks his lips.

Maybe he's a smoker or just had a dry mouth?

 

[Short_Stuff]

Kalie- Way off topic, but just wanted to ask, is your avatar the character on He Man? .lol. (My husband and I are trying to remember)
TIA.

 

[TxRose]

Completely off topic but if you watch the GMA interview with MR, notice when he licks his lips.

Maybe he's a smoker or just had a dry mouth?

Could be either of those...or just nerves. After all - I am sure he was VERY nervous appearing on national tv. I would be!

Most of the signs of lying in an interrogation are nothing more than signs of being very uncomfortable. If you are telling the truth and are innocent, you believe you will be fine and you are not uncomfortable. If you are lying or are hiding something, the guilt or expectation of being found out makes you uncomfortable and you fidget, or play with your hair, lick your lips, etc. I think being nervous because you have just been thrown on national tv for the first time in your life is cause to be a bit uncomfortable!

 

[TxLady2]

One of the reasons they interrupt her instead of letting her keep on, is because they know she is lying and they want to move to another line of questions. If they had let her keep on talking, they would have been in there for weeks, not just a few hours. Just think of how frustrating it was to them for her to keep going back to the nanny story and how she dropped Caylee off, even after it was proved to be a lie.
I don't think they believed the kidnapped story for one second.... any mother whose baby is kidnapped is not going to wait a month to tell someone and then only when they are caught up by the parents and brother.

 

[AZlawyer]

Bumping in hopes of moving discussion re: NTS's concern about the Universal Studios interrogation of Casey to proper thread. I can't find a thread specifically about that interrogation, but this thread seems as good as any.


Post by NTS (BBM):

I wish they would have just been honest and asked her if she wanted an attorney. You know, just be honest, were not here to help you, were here to interrogate you because we think you know where your daughter is and we believe you are lying to us. This whole idea of yelling at someone and having two people ask questions at the same time, then applying the answers so they come out lies is very ineffective in my opinion. I think they should just be nice and let her know that she can get an attorney any time she wants. IMO The way it went down was she felt trapped and not able to leave because she did not have a ride, she did not have an attorney and 2 big guys were yelling at her. IMO They were trying to bully her out of some type of confession. IMO So what went down was a planned interrogation by the Le in my opinion.....

NTS, can you give me one example of some answer Casey gave to LE that was truthful but was applied to come out as a lie? I have really been trying to understand your position about this for months.

 

[wildchild1961]

The point here is not how long they COULD have existed, it is that LE SAID they kept them for a few days! If they kept them for a FEW DAYS how could they be available over a MONTH later? The point is that they proved their own untruth in that one statement. At that time, they were talking about a time span from June 9th to July 16th. In addition, NO WHERE in any subsequent statement from LE or ANYWHERE in their numerous leaks, the statements from the Sawgrass employees, no where, was there any reference at all to viewing tapes. IF THERE WERE ANY TAPES, they would have immediately seen that the dates of ZG's visit were mistaken.

Do you have a link to the bolded statement above? Please n thank you

wild

 

[wildchild1961]

I've listened to most of the interviews. I don't know anything about interrogation techniques. But, as I was listening I found myself telling the investigators to shut up and let her talk. Did anyone else get that feeling? They just kept saying the same things over and over...and they just kept talking and talking...they never really gave her a chance to continue with an answer. Whether they thought her words were lies or not, I wish they would have let her keep going...maybe if they had they may have gotten more clues out of the interview..ya know, 'there's usually some truth even in the lies"? What do you all think?

I agree Breaking Heart.. Casey loves to ramble on and fill the silence with her stories. I would have let her hang herself to high heaven. However, I think we need to remember that at first.. it wasn't about nailing Casey for something or gathering information from her to be used in trial. It was about trying to find a missing 2yr old and time is critical with missing children. So while I agree in hindsight that she should have been encouraged to ramble on forever and hang herself. I was not walking in LE's shoes at that point.. with all the pressure on them to find a missing child.

wild