Get the Truth: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Persuade Anyone to Tell All (15 page)

They don’t want to be wasting their time on something goofy like this, because it’s just goofy. They want to resolve it so everyone can move on. And you can move on and do what you’ve got to do because you’ve got big things ahead of you. You’ve got an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps. You’re on track. Everything career-wise is on track, and my guess is you’ll probably get some education along the way somewhere, too. You’ve got big plans, and there’s no reason that can’t continue.

But part of being in law enforcement is being honest. And it’s hard to be honest sometimes not knowing for sure what’s going to happen or knowing how people are going to view you. But one thing you should know is we all blow things out of proportion. Anything we do wrong, we magnify it because we’re talking about ourselves. It makes us feel guilty, and we’re ashamed.

It’s the good people that magnify things, the good people that are hard on themselves. And you’ve been at this game long enough to know that it’s the bad people that don’t care, it’s the bad people who think what they did isn’t that big of a deal, even robbing and raping and killing. In their world it’s just another day at the beach. It’s just part of their whole lifestyle. In your world and in my world, even speeding makes us feel guilty. This particular thing probably didn’t make you feel guilty when it happened because it was consensual and she agreed to do it, she enjoyed it. You didn’t force her to do anything, and then you took her home. She actually bragged to her friends because she was proud of it, and it was no big deal.

It’s when it accidentally leaked out that they felt compelled to follow up on it a little bit so that they could kind of nip this thing in the bud to make sure that, first of all, you’re not the kind of person who would force someone. Second of all, that you’re not the kind of person that would try to do this with someone who was five or six years old. That’s what I call molestation.

Getting back to what I said, when you work in law enforcement, gosh darn it, you have to bite the bullet sometimes because we all make mistakes. Everybody who works here or any other police department, they’ve all done some things that they have regretted; done some things they knew they shouldn’t have done. But we’re all human. Don’t let this ruin your career. One little mistake. People make mistakes all the time.

Ralph:
If I say it happened, my career in law enforcement is over.

That was a very informative comment from Ralph. His continued lack of denial was strengthening Michael’s belief that Ralph did, in fact, molest Judy. And he was expressing his reason for resisting the idea of confessing.

Michael:
Who knows?

Ralph:
I know.

Michael:
How do you know that?

Ralph:
I just know.

Michael:
We’ll deal with that, but first of all we need to get something going for you. I mean if I just walk out of here and say, “Hey, Ralph did it and he just doesn’t care. He doesn’t even care enough to tell the truth…”

Ralph:
I care.

Michael:
I know you care, and I want you to care. It’s obvious that you care. I want to be able to show that you worked with me. I want to be able to show that you cooperated. I want to be able to show that you are sorry. I want to be able to show that you are never ever going to do anything like this again because I truly, honestly believe that. I need to tell them that you resolved it.

At that point, Ralph had his face in his hands, and he was beginning to cry.

Michael:
You’re not a molester. For them to say that is not accurate, and I’m going to tell them that because I know you’re not. I know you’re not, Ralph.

Michael sensed that Ralph might have been psychologically prepared to tell the truth, so he decided it was time to evaluate his progress by asking a presumptive question.

Michael:
Was it her idea?

Ralph:
No, it wasn’t my idea. Nothing was my idea.

Ralph apparently misheard the question, perhaps because he was expecting Michael to ask if it was his idea.

Michael:
Was it her idea?

Ralph:
I was taking her home.

Michael:
I know that. It’s over, Ralph. You’ve got to tell the truth. This is hard. I know it’s hard. I know you’re strong. I know you’ve got the courage to do it. But the last thing you need is to walk away from it without clearing it up, because then people are going to think the worst about you. There is no reason for anybody to do that. We’re going to handle this discreetly. I’m just going to talk to the investigators about it, but we need to clear it up.

Ralph:
What’s going to happen?

Ralph’s statement was one of resignation. It was a critical turning point in the interrogation. He was no longer resisting, but rather weighing his options to determine whether confessing was or was not his best course of action, depending upon the punishment that would lie ahead. It is at this point that some interrogators succumb to the temptation to make threats, or to make promises they can’t keep. Falling into this trap will invalidate the confession in any court of law. It’s essential that you never make threats or promises in an interrogation scenario. If there’s a Golden Rule in elicitation, it is this: Never do or say anything that could make an innocent person confess.

Michael:
I’m glad you brought that up. First, I don’t know the answer to that. What I do know is there are a variety of means of resolving these matters, and prosecution is only one of them. This is a very important decision that will affect your future, your career as a law enforcement officer. The people that make the decision are going to have to consider some things, and this is what they’ll have to consider. They’ll have to decide whether you have been completely truthful and cooperative, whether you’re honest. Second, they will want to know if you genuinely understand that you made a mistake, and that you care enough to clear it up. I want to be able to tell them that Ralph cares. They’ll want to know that you had the guts to admit your mistake, and that you will never make this same mistake again. I want to be able to tell them that, and it’s important. Most importantly, they’ll want to know that you are sorry for what you did. And I want to be able to tell them that he’s sorry, he’s really sorry. I want to be able to tell them that there was no force, and that it was consensual. It was a one-time thing, spur-of-the-moment. Something you didn’t plan out. It just happened, and it was absolutely out of character for you. I want to be able to tell them that. So whoever makes the decision about your future, those are the important things they’ll want to have answers to. And, unless you clear it up, you’re going to make their decision easy, very easy. But if you own up to it and you apologize, and you say you’re sorry, and you care and they see that, and they already like you, and they already think the world of you, then these people are going to come to what I would say is a very reasonable decision that you all can live with. But the first step is to break through that denial that you’re in right now. That’s the first step. And that’s the part that would bother them. I know you’re sorry, I know you’re sorry. I know you feel bad.

Michael, again sensing that Ralph might be ready to confess, decided to once again evaluate his progress by asking another presumptive question.

Michael:
Is Judy the only one this ever happened with?

Ralph was crying. He nodded his head in a “yes” motion. That was the truth that Michael had been working to elicit. And that’s a critical distinction: The goal of any ethical interrogator is never to get a confession, but rather to get the truth.

In this case, the truth was indeed a confession, and Michael needed to corroborate it. That effort often involves handling a great deal of emotion and further resistance.

Michael:
That’s what I thought.

Ralph:
[Crying]

Michael:
It’s all right. It’s all right. I know it’s tough. After it happened, did you feel guilty, or did you just kind of think, well, this will go away?

Ralph:
[Crying, not responding]

Michael:
Tell me what led up to it. How it all happened.

Ralph:
I don’t remember.

In an interrogation situation, guilty suspects frequently exhibit selective memory. In this case, it took the form of resistance in an attempt to avoid providing incriminating information. It can be frustrating, but it’s essential that you not allow it to make you confrontational. Michael took it in stride.

Michael:
Well, you remember enough.

Ralph:
She just said, “Take me home.”

Michael:
All right. And then what happened?

Ralph:
I don’t know. We just drove. I don’t even know where we were at.

Michael:
Okay.

Ralph:
[Continues to cry]

Michael:
It’s all right, it’s all right. It’s tough.

Ralph:
I’ve ruined my whole life.

Michael:
Oh, no, no, no. Not even close. It seems like that now. It really does. It seems like that now, but it doesn’t have to, not at all, not at all. And like I said before, don’t blow this out of proportion. This is not that big of a deal.

Ralph:
Yeah, it is.

Michael:
Well to you, I know, to you. I know to you at this point in time it is. It’s a big deal to you. But you didn’t kill anybody. You didn’t rape anybody. You didn’t hurt anybody.

Ralph:
Yeah, but I’m going to jail.

Michael:
Well, what did the DA investigator tell you they were going to do?

Ralph:
I don’t know. He was hitting me hard.

Michael:
Well, I don’t know. Who am I to know whether you are going to jail or not? Let me ask you this: Did you have sexual intercourse with her?

Ralph:
Oh, God no!

Michael:
Why did you guys stop?

Ralph:
I don’t know. I don’t even remember. I don’t even remember. I don’t even remember why we stopped. No clue. I just remember we stopped. I just said, “Let’s go.”

Michael:
Were you starting to feel a little weirded out about what was going on? You started to realize what you were doing was wrong and felt kind of bad about it?

Ralph:
[Crying, nodding his head in a “yes” motion]

Michael:
See, that’s good. That’s good. If you were a bad person, you wouldn’t have thought there was anything wrong with it.

Ralph:
I can’t look the people in the face.

Michael:
It’s all right, all right. Tell me about what happened that night in the truck.

Ralph:
[Crying] All I remember is that … oh, man.

Michael:
Come on, Ralph.

Ralph:
I don’t know. I was just thinking how … oh, God … you know, her touching me and me touching her and then I stopped.

Michael:
The only thing that touched your penis was her hand?

Ralph:
Uh-huh.

Michael:
Okay. About how long did that last while she was masturbating you?

Ralph:
Seconds.

Michael:
What would you guess?

Ralph:
Ten seconds maybe, I don’t know. I don’t even like that.

People who confess almost always minimize their conduct, so getting the full story can be like squeezing blood from a turnip. Indeed, rarely do we ever get the complete story. The goal is to get as close to the full truth as possible, so the decision makers have as much accurate information as possible upon which to administer justice. Also noteworthy here is Ralph’s classic convincing statement, “I don’t even like that.” Deceptive indicators frequently appear throughout interrogations, and help to serve as a map to where to dig more deeply for additional information.

Michael:
Tell me about putting your finger into her vagina.

Ralph:
I just like rubbed … fuck.

Michael:
At least the tip of your finger went in her vagina a little bit, right?

Ralph:
[Crying, nodding his head in a “yes” motion]

Michael:
How long would you say your finger was in her vagina?

Ralph:
Not even a minute—thirty seconds. This whole thing maybe lasted enough to pull over, five seconds; not five seconds, but a short time. I can’t live with this.

Michael:
Yes, you can. You will, you will. It’s hard now. It’s hard now, but it will pass, it will pass.

Ralph:
I’m done, I’m done.

Michael:
We don’t know that. We don’t know that.

Often at this point in an interrogation, guilty suspects who have confessed perceive their whole world to be crashing down upon them. Consequently, they must be handled delicately, and with a great deal of understanding and compassion. They must be restored psychologically, so they can depart with as much respect and dignity as possible. We’ve found it’s very helpful in that situation to remember the adage “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

Ralph:
I loved it here, too. Sorry. I just don’t know what to think right now. My girlfriend’s going to leave me.

Michael:
We don’t know that. How long have you been with her?

Ralph:
Not long. A few months.

Michael:
She cares about you.

Ralph:
Yeah, but …

Michael:
She might not even have to find out about this. Let’s wait and see where this thing’s going to go. All right?

Ralph:
I’ve got to tell all my lieutenants that I lied to them.

Michael:
No, no. They’ve all been lied to before. I’m sure they’ve lied to other people themselves. You’re a human being. That’s all you are. That’s all I am.