TYPES OF PERSONS INTERVIEWED AND INTERROGATED

During criminal investigations, you may have occasion to question many types of persons, including victims, witnesses, informers, complainants, and accusers.

Victims

A victim normally is interviewed to develop the facts of an incident. This interview may take place in a hospital, at the victim's dwelling, or at another location not of the investigator's choosing.

A victim is not always a reliable or cooperative witness. Unreliability and uncooperativeness are sometimes caused by fear of some form of retaliation, a state of mental or physical shock, poor memory, possible involvement of relatives or friends, or fear of publicity.

Also, a victim may be too eager to please and attempt to cooperate by exaggerating and distorting facts. It maybe necessary to interview a victim several times before all facts are correctly disclosed.

Occasionally, it is necessary to interrogate a victim. Victims commonly inflate values of property to obtain a larger claim. Also, victims may attempt to hide their involvement in an offense. This is common in rape and homosexual investigations, and in drug-related offenses.

Witnesses

A witness is a person-other than a suspect-who has information concerning an incident. A witness may also be the victim, complainant, or accuser who fast notified the authorities of the incident.

The witness must be sought by the investigator when he or she does not voluntarily come forward to present his or her knowledge of the incident. A witness may be a person who saw the crime committed; a person who can testify as to the actions and whereabouts of the accused at the time the crime was committed; a person who knows facts or heard the accused say certain things that would tend to establish a motive for the commission of the crime; a scientific specialist who examined the physical evidence and can give impartial testimony in court concerning such evidence; or a person who by personal knowledge of certain facts or occurrences can contribute to the overall knowledge of the case.

A witness is usually interviewed, but may be interrogated when suspected of lying or withholding pertinent information.

It is not necessary to warn a witness of his or her rights unless he or she has uttered statements that lead you to believe the status of the witness has changed to that of a suspect. If this occurs, all questioning must cease and the suspect must be informed of his or her legal rights.

Informers

The success and efficiency of investigations often depend to some extent on persons who furnish information about criminals and their activities. This source of information is protected by the investigator, who often interviews the informer under conditions of the informer's choosing.

Complainants and Accusers

During an investigation, a person may report on or accuse another person. The complainant or accuser is usually interviewed. In some cases, however, it maybe desirable to interrogate an accuser or complainant who is suspected of lying, of distortion, of concealing the fact that he or she provoked the accused, or of attempting to divert suspicion from himself or herself. Providing a false official statement is a crime in itself. (See UCMJ, Art. 107; 18 U.S.C. 1001 (1976).) Therefore, a rights warning and waiver may be required.

Others

Information is often needed that will give a clearer understanding of the motives and actions of persons involved in an incident. In acquiring such information, the investigator interviews persons acquainted with the victim, suspect, witness, or informer. These interviews are normally conducted in the office, home, or place of business of such a person. Rarely do these interviews result in an interrogation.

Distracting Persons

You may encounter persons who have no real connection with a crime or possess no knowledge of it, but who nevertheless present information to you. They may claim to be witnesses or victims, or even perpetrators. Despite the lack of any real basis for their statements, these persons should not be dismissed lightly. You should listen to their stories, evaluate what they say in relation to the known facts, and take the necessary action.

Sensation or publicity seekers. Persons in this class are not often encountered during investigations. Some emotionally disturbed persons, however, may present themselves as witnesses, as additional victims of known suspects, or as accomplices of suspects who have received considerable publicity. You should make every effort to handle publicity seekers in such a manner that will not harm the investigation. You should be aware of attention-seeking behavior.

Grudge-bearing and lying witnesses. Because of previous difficulties with an accused or suspected individual, or to settle an old score, a person with no real knowledge of an incident may volunteer information about, or profess to be a witness to, an incident. A thorough familiarity with the known facts and details of the incident will often enable the investigator to detect inconsistencies in the story of such a person.

The testimony of the grudge-bearing or lying witness may closely parallel the accounts of the incident released to the press or allowed to circulate through other channels. Where the real motives of such a witness are obscure to the investigator, all possible background information should be developed to disclose the untruths and the motivation for the witness' statements.

False accusers. A false accuser may make a charge that later investigation will disclose to be groundless. Sometimes, such a charge will persist until a trial is conducted. A false charge is, at times, an exaggerated version of an actual crime of a lesser nature, but it is sometimes made when no offense has been committed. False charges are particularly prevalent in sex cases, and are not uncommon in other crimes.

A false charge may represent the sincere, though erroneous, thinking of the victim, or may rest on the victim's reaction to previous ill-will, suspicion, or jealousy.

All of your skill is required in the initial interview with an accuser to separate truthful from unfounded accusations. It should be remembered, however, that this should be done in a diplomatic manner. Anything you do to slight a person who volunteers such information or to make him or her feel that the reporting of the matter was foolish or undesired may close off a future source of reliable information.