NewsletterSeptember 3, 2015
in this issue
Empathy Guides the Investigator to the Truth
Fitness Tip
Analysis Paralysis: A Training Paradox
Dealing with the Deaf
Body-Worn Camera Programs

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In this issue we continue to bring you important training topics of current interest. 


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Empathy Guides the Investigator to the Truth
By David M Buckley
March - April 2015 

(Please Note: If you wish to print and share an Investigator Tip with your colleagues, the John E. Reid 'credit and permission' statement following the article must be included.)

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." 
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Although investigators are not trying to destroy an enemy or engage in military action investigators are often engaged in a type of psychological battle with a subject who has information they perceive as incriminating but are reluctant to surrender that information. 

The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities... It is best to win without fighting. 
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Empathy is defined as having the capacity of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner. An investigator's ability to empathize can help them understand the perceptions of the subject and will allow the investigator to discover the path to take to change those perceptions and consequently motivate the deceptive subject to want to tell the truth. As Harper Lee's character Atticus so eloquently stated in 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' "You never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." ; a variation of the Native American Cherokee tribe proverb 'Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes'. We are not suggesting that we have to 'climb into the skin' or 'walk a mile' in the shoes of a child molester, arsonist, murderer, rapist or thief, we just have to study and understand basic human nature and learn from the subject through their responses to our interview questions how they perceive various aspects of the situation. 

  

Fitness Tip 


 


 

Build strength to stand your ground while being pushed laterally. The exercise in this video is not only appropriate for a variety of fitness levels but provides a challenge with a partner-no equipment needed!.. 

Analysis Paralysis: A Training Paradox  
 

~~~~~~~~~ This Month's Featured Class ~~~~~~~~~ 
 

 

Heartland Law Enforcement Training Institute
presents

 Gang Undercover Narcotics
Investigators Training Conference

Oct. 12-15, 2015
Embassy Suites Orlando North

A four-day (32 hour) training program designed for law enforcement investigators, officers and supervisors participating in gang, narcotics or undercover operations. These types of operations require a great deal of planning to ensure safe and successful outcomes. This training course will give attendees the tools needed to properly plan and execute an operation whether it pertains to a short term investigation or a long term more involved investigation.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dealing with the Deaf  
 
ENABLING LAW ENFORCEMENT TO BE MORE SENSITIVE TO THE DEAF & HARD OF HEARING COMMUNITY

We take our senses for granted, and tend to assume that all people are equally endowed - that everyone can see, hear, feel, taste and smell. But when you interact with the public, you are likely to meet all kinds of people. Sadly not all were created equally. People who are blind live in a world that sighted people can't even imagine. People who are Deaf live in a world that is equally foreign. In this article, we're going to focus on people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing (HoH).

 It feels safe to state that police officers and other law enforcement personnel would benefit from a greater sensitivity to the special needs of people who are deaf or suffer from various amounts of hearing loss (Hard of Hearing-HoH). We expect that the public would greatly benefit as well. And that's the mission of Tylin Promotions' d/Deaf Sensitivity Training Seminars. Headed by Fred Greenspan (who is hearing impaired), the Arizona-based company has a program, entitled "I Never Gave THAT a Thought", during which attendees learn to more effectively and respectfully interact with people who cannot hear, or have a hearing deficit. 
 
 
State Laws Get Specific On Body-Worn Camera Programs

By: Officer Michael Oteri, BWC Agency Administrator

During my 18 plus year tenure as a law enforcement officer, our "rule book" has always guided us in this industry.  Some agencies call it Departmental Directives; some call it General Orders, and a myriad of other synonymous titles for how we do our job specific to our agency.  State law has always been thorough but never to the degree of an agency's framework of rules.  Due to societal and political climates of our great nation regarding law enforcement, state bills are being passed with explicit directions on the usage and type of equipment such as the body-worn camera. 

On August 12, 2015, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, signed in to effect Senate Bill 1304. In Section 10 of the Article, cited as the "Law Enforcement Officer-Body Worn Camera Act", the new law states specifically that:

                             "at a minimum, all of the following:

(1)  Cameras must be equipped with pre-event recording,capable of recording at least the 30 seconds prior tocamera activation, unless the officer-worn body camera waspurchased and acquired by the law enforcement agency prior to July 1, 2015. (2)  Cameras must be capable of recording for a period of 10 hours or more, unless the officer-worn body camera was purchased and acquired by the law enforcement agency prior to July 1, 2015. (3)  Cameras must be turned on at all times when the officer is in uniform and is responding to calls for service or engaged in any law enforcement-related encounter or activity, that occurs while the officer is on-duty.



Law Enforcement Magazines
 

 

  
Law & Order Magazine  The Counter Terrorist Police Magazine Police & Security News  American Police Beat

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