Whatever you say, say nothing: Individual differences in counter interrogation tactics amongst a field sample of right wing, AQ inspired and paramilitary terrorists

Kleinman

2017

Legal Criminol Psychol

Purpose In previous laboratory‐based work, the Scharff technique has proved successful for gathering intelligence from human sources. However, little is known about whether the technique can be taught to practitioners, and whether Scharff‐trained practitioners will interview more effectively than colleagues using their conventional approaches and tactics. Method We examined professional handlers from the Norwegian Police (n = 64), all experienced in interacting with informants. Half received training in the Scharff technique, and their performance was compared against handlers receiving no Scharff training and free to use the approaches they saw fit. All handlers received the same case file describing a source holding information about a future terrorist attack and were given the same interview objectives. Police trainees (n = 64) took on the role of semicooperative sources and were given incomplete information about the attack. Results The trained handlers adhered to the Scharff training as they (1) aimed to establish the illusion of ‘knowing‐it‐all’, (2) posed claims to collect information, and (3) asked few (if any) explicit questions. In contrast, the untrained handlers tried to evoke the sources’ motivation to reveal information and asked a high number of explicit questions. Scharff‐trained handlers were perceived as less eager to gather information, but collected comparatively more new information. Conclusions The Scharff‐trained interviewers utilized more specific elicitation tactics (e.g., posing claims) and fewer general interview strategies (e.g., evoking motivation), and they collected comparatively more new information. This captures the essence of the Scharff technique: It is subtle, yet effective.

Section: Counter-interrogation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eliciting information from human sources: Training handlers in the Scharff technique

Oleszkiewicz

Kleinman

2017

Legal Criminol Psychol

“…Our findings can be explained by the self-regulation theory that postulates that individuals evade a threat by using an avoidance or an escape strategy (Bauer & Baumeister, 2011). Liars may choose to exercise an avoidance strategy by withholding information and using their right to silence so that they do not incriminate themselves (Alison et al, 2014;Granhag, Clemens, & Strömwall, 2009;Moston, Stephenson, & Williamson, 1992), or they may use an escape strategy by responding in a manner that does not incriminate them by denying having committed the crime or by providing nonincriminating information only (Granhag & Hartwig, 2008). Informed liars used an escape strategy as they denied incriminating information and revealed as much information as possible about the alibi setting (DePaulo et al, 2003;Granhag & Hartwig, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visuospatial counter‐interrogation strategies by liars familiar with the alibi setting

Deeb

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Vrij

et al. 2018

SummaryThis study examines counter-interrogation strategies employed by liars giving false alibis. Participants (N = 144) visited a restaurant to buy a sandwich (truth-tellers) or to use it as a false alibi (liars). Half of the liars were informed they might be asked for a drawing of the alibi setting if interviewed (informed liars). Participants spent either 10 min (high familiarity condition) or 30 s (low familiarity condition) in the restaurant. All participants were asked to provide two visuospatial statements, which were assessed for salient details, nonsalient details, between-statement consistency, and statement-alibi setting consistency. Informed liars provided significantly more salient and nonsalient details than uninformed liars and truth-tellers, particularly in the high familiarity condition. No differences emerged for statement consistency types. The results suggest that liars are more concerned than truth-tellers about making a positive impression on the interviewer, and they fail to accurately reflect on truth-tellers' visuospatial statements. | INTRODUCTIONConsider a man who travels by car from the place where he lives to a distant city that he has never visited before. The man books a room in a hotel for one night. On that evening, the man targets a woman walking on the streets, abducts her in his car, and strangles her in a nearby scrapyard. The murderer then goes to a nearby pub for two hours and returns back to the hotel afterwards. On the next day, he goes to his workplace, acting as if nothing has happened. Consider another incident in which a woman murders someone in her neighbourhood and heads immediately afterwards to a festival that is hosted for the first time in the city. The woman stays there for half an hour before going home. Now, imagine that these two murderers were suspected by the police and questioned about the relevant crime. The suspects say they were at the pub/festival when the crime occurred, giving a false alibi.Investigators may want to establish if the suspects were in the claimed alibi location at the time the crime occurred. This can be determined if detailed questions about the alibi setting are asked. For the first case, investigators may come to know that the murderer booked a room for one night in a hotel situated near the crime location, so if he was in the pub, it would probably have been on the same night. Detailed questions about the suspect's stay at the pub may clarify whether he was there and the time he might have been there. For the second case, the suspect may also be asked detailed questions about the festival, which has never happened previously in the city. Hence, asking the suspect about the setting, decoration, bands' appearances, and order, among others, would assist officers in understanding whether the suspect was there or not. Now, imagine that the same murderers, before committing the crime, explored interview techniques that investigators employ. Knowing the type of questions that officers ask during interviews will help the murderers prepar...

“…But we believe it is reasonable to argue that the Scharff tactics might be equally effective for real sources. Supporting this contention is the expectation that many real-life sources will be more motivated to evoke counterinterrogation strategies than mock-sources (Alison et al, 2014), and the Scharff-technique is specifically tailored to circumvent such counter-interrogation strategies. A fourth limitation is that we did not assess the relative importance of the information provided.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Scharff technique: training military intelligence officers to elicit information from small cells of sources

Psychology, Crime & Law

Oleszkiewicz

Sakrisvold

et al. 2019

Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the Scharff technique for gathering human intelligence, but little is known about how this efficacy might vary among different samples of practitioners. In this training study we examined a sample of military officers (n = 37). Half was trained in the Scharff technique and compared against officers receiving no Scharff training. All officers received the same case file describing two sources holding information about a terrorist attack. University students (n = 74) took the role of the semi-cooperative sources. Scharff-trained officers adhered to the training as they (1) aimed to establish the 'knowing-it-all' illusion, (2) posed claims as a means of eliciting information, and (3) asked fewer explicit questions. The 'untrained' officers asked many explicit questions, questioned the reliability of the provided information, pressured the source, and displayed disappointment with the source's contribution. Scharff-trained officers were perceived as less eager to gather information and left their sources with the impression of having provided comparatively less new information, but collected a similar amount of new information as their untrained colleagues. The present paper both replicates and advances previous work in the field, and marks the Scharff technique as a promising technique for gathering human intelligence.