ABC News’ “Primetime: Crime” was granted unprecedented access to the inner-workings of the Houston Homicide Division, to explore how Homicide Detective Sgt. Brian Harris conducts interviews in the interrogation room, otherwise known to law enforcement as “The Box”.
Sergeant Harris emphasizes that coercive interview techniques are ineffective when trying to illicit information from a suspect: “I treat them with dignity,” he told ABC News’ Chris Cuomo. “If they can see me as a person that views them with dignity, the chances of communicating are starting to open up.”
Indeed it’s true: when trying to illicit information from someone, research shows that non-coercive interview techniques based on rapport building have been proven to be the most effective. One extremely important part of rapport building involves reading emotions and then reacting to those emotions appropriately.
Take a look at the video below for Part 1 of “Inside the Interrogation Room”.
Also, don’t forget to take a look at Dr. Matsumoto, Dr. Hwang and Dr. Frank’s front cover article “The Role of Emotion in Predicting Violence” in this month’s edition of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin.
