Police Investigative Interviews

Investigative interviews are the most vital aspect of the investigative process for law enforcement officers. During the course of an investigation a law enforcement officer tends to conduct interviews with all witnesses and potential suspects. The law enforcement officers are trained to ask open-ended questions in an attempt to elicit as much information as possible. However, it is very common for individuals to be deceitful, during such interview. Ultimately, the tells of an individual, is the key components utilized by law enforcement officers to detect deception in one’s statements; the body language and eye contact conveyed during an interview determine what immediate course of action needs to be taken.
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Law enforcement officers also pay close attention to neurolinguistics eye movement as it can also be an indicator of deception. Once the law enforcement interviewer has determined the normal responses to questions he or she may be able to evaluate the truthfulness of a subject’s response based on eye movement. This notion is based on an acceptance in the field, that most individuals unconsciously move their eyes in a certain direction when recalling and creating information. For example, if a subject is asked to recall the color of the shirt they wore the day before their eyes would move up and to their left while they retrieved the memory. If the subject decided to lie, their eyes would shift up and to the right while they created an answer. Recalling and creating sound memories are associated with eye movements directly left or right. Looking down and to the right is associated with creating tactile memories. And looking down and to the left is associated with internal dialogs or getting in touch with one’s feelings. (Zulawski,