UNIT 4.

INTERVIEW AND
INTERROGATION
“ The RIGHT person asking the RIGHT question
to the RIGHT person at the RIGHT place
and at the RIGHT time will get the right answer”
A. Interview
Interview is the simple questioning of a
person believe to possess information, which are
relevant to the investigation of a crime or on
criminal activities
• In an interview, the interviewee is willing
and cooperative with the person conducting
the interview.
General Kinds of Interview
1. Cognitive Interview. This is conducted to willing and
cooperative witnesses where they are given the full
opportunity to narrate their accounts without intervention,
interruption and interference from the interviewer.
• After the subject finished his/her narration, the
investigator now subjects him/her to the style of direct
examination and cross examination, to clarify the
unexplained portions to arrive at vivid and complete
picture of the testimony.
2. Questions and Answer. This interview as practiced by
some investigator requires the interviewee to answer the
question posed by the investigator.
• The interviewee is required to answer on what he/she
knows about what is being asked.
• In the case of the subjects of the low level of
intelligence, the use of leading questions greatly helps
the investigator to obtain the full and desired
information. (Garcia, 2004).
Golden Rule in Interview
“Never allow the interviewer to conduct nor anyone to
conduct an interview without prior visit to the crime
scene.”
• The questioning should be in agreement with the facts
and condition at the crime scene.
• The questioning will lead wayward for the interviewer
who had not seen personally the crime scene and he/she
will not be in position to distinguish half-truths,
exaggeration of falsehood from the answer of the
person being interviewed. (Sadili & Pens, 1998).
Qualities of a Good Interviewer

1. Rapport. It refers to the good relation between the

interviewer and the interviewee, which is conducive to a
fruitful result.
• It is winning the confidence of a person being
interviewed in order that he will tell all the information
in his/her possession.
• The interviewer must be in respectable civilian attire
because, most often and the majority of people, the
police uniforms is barrier in establishing good rapport.
To many, the uniform is intimidating.
• Forceful Personality. The appearance of the interviewer
and the qualities such as skills of communication
techniques or the force of language are the mainstays of
the strength of his character.
• He/she must be understanding, sympathetic and without
showing official arrogance, vulgarity of expressions and
air superiority.
3. Knowledge on Psychology/ Psychiatry. This will help
the interviewer determine the personality and intelligence
of the subject; he/she must go down and up to the level
of understanding his/her particular subject.
4. Conversational Tone of Voice. Investigator’s tone of
voice must be conversational not confrontational as in
interrogation.
• It means that the interviewer must know how to
appropriately use his/her voice normally, without
unusual loudness that will affect the interview process.
5. Acting Qualities. He/ she must possess the qualities of
an actor, salesman and psychologist and know how to use
the power of persuasion.
• This is done to convince the person to disclose what
he/she knows about the issue being investigated.
6. Humility. He/ she must be courteous, sympathetic and
humble, ready to ask apologies for the inconvenience of
the interview.
• This is usually done at the end of the interview that may
give the good impression to the person being
interviewed. (Garcia, 2004).
Reason Why Witnesses Refuse to Testify

1. Fear of Reprisal. Witnesses who lack the courage to

face the suspect, his associates or relatives always
entertain the fear of reprisal.
• This is natural, especially those who have no means
protect themselves, or no influential persons for them to
rely on.
• This is prevalent among the generally under privileged
sectors of our society. The investigator must remove these
fears from the mind of his/her witnesses either by offering
protection or by the explanation that unless the suspect is
not put behind bars, the fear will not disappear. The
investigator’s power of persuasion plays a vital role.
• Great Inconvenience. On the part of those of hands-to-
mouth existence there is this real inconvenience, which
will deprive them the time to earn for their living
especially during the ordeal of testifying during the
trial.
• To those unemployed, the inconvenience is
greater thus the investigator must sincerely
help them through his/her contacts with the
business community.
3.Hatred against the Police. This hatred maybe
due to the previous bad experience with rogue
members of the police organization.
• The investigator must show the difference
between him/her and the rouge policeman by
honest and sincere entertainment of the
complaint against the cops.
• He/she must explain that this scalawags represent only
small percentage of a whole organization and the police
leadership is addressing the situation properly.
4.Because of Bias of Witness. The witness
maybe an acquaintance, friend, helper, or
benefactor of the suspect.
• All of these and other relationship of the witness to the
suspect must be explored so than an intelligent
approach is properly applied.
5.Avoidance of Publicity. There are witnesses
who are shy and they shun publicity that will
bring discomfort to their ordinary or obscure
way of living.
• The investigator must hide these witnesses away from
the reporters.
5.Family Restriction. Some famous and
respected families preserve their reputation by
instilling to their members the need of the
approval of their elders on matters affecting
their families.
• The investigator must talk to the elders for their
approval for a member to testify. (Garcia, 2004).
• Phases of Interview
1.Preparation. Investigator must review the facts at the
crime scene and information and other sources in order
that he/she would be ready for the questioning.
• A background data of the subject should be available so
that he/she could adapt himself/herself to the kind of
approach to be employed.
2.Approach. This is done through investigator’s careful
selection of the kind of approach to use, which maybe a
single kind, a combination of two or the application of all
techniques.
3.Warming Up. This is done by preliminary or
exploratory questions to clear the atmosphere and
promote a conducive place for cordiality, respect and
trust for each other.
4.Cognitive Interview. This is performed by
allowing or already asking now the subject to
narrate his/her account without interruption,
intervention or interference.
• It is only after the completion of the uninterrupted
narration that the investigator begins the direct and
cross examinations (Garcia, 2004).
Rules in Questioning
1.One question at a time, multiple, complex, and
legalistic questions should be avoided, one question at a
time is desired.
2.Avoid implied answer. The nod of the head or any other
body language as a response to the questions should be
avoided.
3.The answers must be oral, clear, explicit and responsive
to the questions. Simplicity of Question.
• A short simple questions at a time is required. If the
answers need qualification, then it should be allowed.
• Avoid legalistic questions such as: who is the murderer,
or who are in conspiracy with the subject.
4. Saving Face. Embarrassing questions on the subject on
matters of exaggeration or honest error about time,
distance and description should be avoided if the
investigator will cooperate with the subject “to save his
race”.
• The investigator should not fault or ridicule the subject
on these matters.
5. Yes and No answer. Do not ask questions which could
be answered by yes or no only. It will curtail the real
flow of information and will lead to inaccuracy (Sadili &
Pena, 1998).
Types of Witnesses
1. Know-nothing type. This is reluctant type of witness.
It is found among the uneducated and of low level
intelligence. The technique to be applied is to be with
their level of intelligence and by interrogation.
2.Disinterested Type. This refers to an uncooperative and
indifferent subject.
• To deal with this type is to find out his/ her field of
interest so that he/she will talk.
• His/her indifference should be demolish to arouse
interest or be flattered instead.
3.The Drunken Type. The style of questioning by the
investigator should be adapted to the psychology of the
subject.
• When the drunken subject has sobered, another
interview will be conducted, confronting him/her about
disclosures while in the state of drunkenness.
• The written statement must be taken during his/her
sobriety.
4.Talkative Type. This is the witness who is prone to
exaggerate, adding irrelevant or new matters to their
narration.
• The skillful investigator could prune the unnecessary
matters from the relevant ones.
5.Honest Witness. This is the truthful and cooperative
witness where the investigator could rely upon, with little
or no problem in handling them.
6. Deceitful Witness. This is a liar type of witness. Let
him/her lie and order later to repeat several times the
narration. He/ she will be enmeshed in contradictions.
• If possible the lies must be tape recorded for the
confrontation about contradiction.
• Pressure him/her for possible cases of perjury or
obstruction of justice and he/she will tell the truth.
7.Timid Witness. This is a shy witness. The approach
must be friendly and reassuring confidentiality of the
information. It should be hidden from the devouring
press by interviews or photo sessions.
8.Refusal to Talk Witness. This is the most difficult
subject to deal with. Find out the reason of his/her
personality such as: trauma, shock, fear, hatred, and
others. Remove these fetters of silence so that he/she will
start talking (Garcia, 2004).
B. Interrogation
Interrogation is the vigorous and confrontational
questioning of a reluctant suspect about his/her
participation in the commission of crime.
• It is confrontational in the sense that the investigator
places the guilt of the accused. This process could also
be applied to an uncooperative or recalcitrant
suspect/witness.
• Interrogation is one of the difficult but most interesting
phases of criminal investigation and detection. It is a
challenging battle of wit between the investigator and
the suspect.
• It is the mental combat where the weapon is intelligence
and the use of the art. Victory upon proper and effective
use of the art. Witnesses or victim are interviewed, and
suspects are interrogated (Garcia, 2004).
Goals of Interrogation
• To find out the truth about the crime
• To obtain an admission or confession of guilt from the
suspect
• To gain facts in order to determine the method of
operation or modus operandi and the circumstances of
the crime in question
• To collect information that guides investigators to arrive
at logical conclusion
What is the main purpose of interrogation?
The main intention of interrogation is to obtain
confession or admission from the suspect and to learn
relevant information from uncooperative witness
• When the accused confessed to the commission of a
crime, he/she accepts the facts constituting the offense
but if he/she interposes self-defense or other
exculpatory grounds, then the acknowledgement is not
a confession but admission (Dalilis & Pagnas, 2003).
Confession
1.There is declaration of the suspect (accused)
2.The accused acknowledged guilt from circumstances of
the crime
3. Guilt is admitted.
Admission
1. There is a statement of the person (accused)
2. The person only agreed on facts or circumstances of
the crime
3. There is no acceptance of guilt.
Kinds of Confession
• Extra Judicial Confession. It is confession that is
made by the suspect during custodial investigation or
those confessions that are made outside of the Court .
Sec 3, Rule 133, Rules of Court stated that:
“Extra judicial confession is not sufficient ground for conviction:
An extra judicial confession made by an accused,
Shall not be sufficient ground for conviction,
unless corroborated by evidence of corpus delicti-body
of the crime.”
It is possible that a person might have confessed his/her
guilt regarding an offense, which someone has committed
and when asked of his/her victim of the nature of the
injuries inflicted by him/her, it does not coincide with the
identity or nature of the injuries, receive by the victim.
Types of Extra Judicial Confession
• Voluntary Extra Judicial Confession. The confession is
voluntary when the accused speaks of free will and accord,
without inducement of any kind, with a full and complete
knowledge of the nature and consequence of the confession.
And when the speaking is so free from influences
affecting the will of the accused, at the time the
confession was made it renders it admissible in evidence
against him.
• Involuntary Extra Judicial Confession. This
confession obtained through force, threat, intimidation,
duress or anything influencing the voluntary act of the
confessor (CBSI Editorial Staff, 1999).
Note: Confession obtained from the defendant by means
of force or intimidation/ violation is null and void, and
cannot be used against him/her during trial (Doctrine of
Poisonous Tree).
2. Judicial Confession. This confession is made by the
accused in open court. The plea of guilt maybe made
during arraignment or any stage of the proceedings
where the accused changes plea of not guilty to guilty.
• This is conclusive upon the court and maybe considered
to be mitigating circumstance to criminal liability.
• A plea of guilty when formally entered on arraignment
is sufficient to sustain conviction of any offense, even a
capital one, without further proof (CBSI Editorial Staff,
1999).
Sec. 2, Rule 129, Rules of Court affirmed that:

“Judicial admission is made by the party in the course of the trial

or other proceedings do not require proof and cannot be
contradicted unless previously shown to have been made
through palpable mistake.”
Techniques of Interrogation
1. Emotional Appeal. This is a technique whereby the
investigator, combining the skills of the actor and a
psychologist, addressing the suspect with an emotional
appeal to confess.
• This is capable to first time offenders or those who are
of the emotional type of characteristics displayed by
nervousness or emotional disturbances. Devotees of a
religion may belong to this type.
2. Sympathetic Approach. The investigator in his/her
preliminary or probing questions must dig deep into the
past troubles, plight and unfortunate events in the life of
the suspect. An offer of help, kindness, friendliness, may
win his cooperation.
3. Friendliness. A friendly approach coupled with a
posture of sincerity may include the suspect to confess.
Trick and Bluff Techniques:
a. Pretense of Solid Evidence. The investigator bluffs
the suspect that even if he/she will not confess, there is
enough evidence to send him/her to jail.
• If confession is made, the investigator will see to it that
his/her prison term will be within the range of
probation.
b. Weakest Link. Among the suspects, there must be
careful selection of who among there is the weakest link
where the interrogation will begin.
• By tricks and bluffs, this weakest link will be told that
his/her companions had already confessed and that this
weakest link had dealt the fatal blow or that he received
the lion share of the loot in order to intrigue him.
c. Drama. The weakest link may be used to fake pain
and agony by ordering him/her to shout, accompanied by
banging a chair on the wall to make it appear that a
commotion is going on.
• The other suspect in separate rooms must hear the
drama before telling them that their partner had
confessed.
e. Line Up. The complainant, witness or victim is
requested to point positively to the suspect in the police
line-up. The witnesses’ victims or complainant are
previously coached about the identity of the suspect.
f. Reverse Line Up. The suspect is placed among other
persons in a line up and he/she is identified by several
complainants and witnesses who will associate the suspect to
become desperate and confess only to the case under
investigation, to avoid being charged on false accusations
(Garcia, 2004).
f. Stern Approach. The investigator displays a stern
(demands immediate response) personality towards the
suspect by using the following methods:
1. Jolting. In the questioning process, the investigator
selects the right moment to shout a pertinent question in
an apparent righteous outrage. The suspect’s nerves will
break to a confession.
2. Opportunity to Lie. The suspect is given all the
opportunities to lie. The suspect is questioned about
his/her personal life, family, friends his/her knowledge
about the complainant and the witnesses.
• Then the suspect is questioned about his/her activity
prior during and after the commission of the crime.
• This is repeated many times, to include the investigator
focusing questioned about the knowledge of the suspect
of the crime.
• The suspect will be enmeshed in contradictions, which
is now capitalized by the investigator to get the truth
from the suspect.
• If possible, the interrogation must be taped recorded for
purposes of emphasis during the confrontation of the
contradictions.
h. Mutt and Jeff or Sweet and Sour Method. The first set of investigators must be
rough, mean and dangerous.
• When they had finished the interrogation, the second
investigator intervenes by stopping the first set of
investigators.
• By being sympathetic and understanding, he/she begins his interrogation. If the suspect
still refuses to cooperate, then the process is repeated until there is a confession (Mitchell,
2002).
i. Removing the Ethnic or Cultural Barrier. If the
suspect is an “Ifugao” (person from Ifugao Province),
then preferably, an Ifugao investigator is recommended
to interrogate him, the same with other ethnic or cultural
groups.
• It is a Filipino’s way of life that people put trust and
confidence to those who belong to their clan or tribe.
• The interrogation must be in the language or dialect of
the suspect to get his confidence. This is removing the
dialect/language barrier.
j. Searching for the Soft Spot. In every man’s heart, there is
always softest spot. The heart may have been hardened to
steel by poverty, destitution, hopelessness, despair, apathy,
indifference, injustice, hatred or other factors, yet there is
always that spot which could be discovered by the
investigator through his/her knowledge of human behavior.
• That spots maybe the youngest child, the wife, the
mother, and the brother who acted as his father, the
grandparents or the best friend.
• Once discovered, there must be face-to-face meeting
with that special person and that heart of steel will melt
to pieces.
• This technique is not only used during interrogation but
also during crisis management in hostage situations.
5. Rationalization. It is the use of reasons, which is
acceptable to the subject that led to the commission of
the crime, thus it may be said that sometimes, killing is
necessity rather than by purpose or design.
• Robbery is maybe necessity to feed a starving family.
The application of this technique depends upon the
nature of the crime.
6. Projection. It is the process of putting the blame to
other person, not alone to the suspect.
• The murderer may blame the mastermind for corrupting
him/her with big sums of money or the mastermind
blaming the greediness of the victim or the husband
blaming the wife for her fidelity.
• Or that it is a necessary evil as the victim is planning to
kill the suspect.
7. Minimization. It is the act of minimizing the
culpability of the suspect. The investigator convinces the
suspect that a confession will reduce the offense and the
penalty.
• Thus, the investigator could study it if the there is a way
to downgrade murdered to homicide or the introduction
of mitigating circumstances with the result of the
penalty being within the range of probation (Garcia,
2004).
Apparent Sign of Deception
The following unusual situation posed by the subject
during the interrogation must be observed by the
investigator:
1. Excessive Sweating. The profuse sweating indicates, tension, anxiety, shock or
fear. Extreme nervousness is also the cause of sweating.
2. Change of Facial Color. Anger is indicating if the
face is blushing. It is also the result of extreme
nervousness or embarrassment.
• It is necessary as a sign of deception or guilt. A pale
face is reliable indicator or guilt or deception.
3. Dry Mouth. This is a sign of great tension, and is a
reliable symptom of deception. Swallowing, constant
movement of the Adam’s apple and sweating of the lips
are indication of dryness of the mouth.
4. Excessive Breathing. An effort to control breathing
during the critical questioning is an indication of
deception. Gasping of breath is the ultimate result of the
control in breathing.
5. Increase of Pulse Beat. When observed at the side of
the neck, the investigator has to discover the increase of
pulse beat which is indicative of deception.
6. Avoidance of Direct Eye Contact. This may indicate
guilt or deception. Misty or teary eyes indicate remorse
or repentance (Dalilis & Pagnas, 2003).