How important are good interviewing skills? Well if you figure that most cases are initiated by a complaint from a victim or witness, the information obtained from interviews actually sets the foundation for the investigation. If you don't get accurate and reliable information from the beginning of your case, you will waste time, money and resources. Also, as your case progresses and you follow up with additional witnesses, informants, and potential suspects, information from those interviews directs your investigation. If you get misdirected, again you will waste time, money and resources and even head down the path towards a miscarriage of justice by focusing on the wrong person while the real perpetrator stays free.

To improve your ability to gather information and assess the information for veracity make sure you have the right training behind you which included Cognitive Interviewing & Investigative Statement Analysis. Combining these learnable skills will improve your ability to gather accurate and reliable information from people and to assess the information for truthfulness and deception, and will provide you information to focus and guide your interviews. This course is being held at the Graylyn International Conference Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. October 27th-29th, 2014. For more information on the course or registration information click HERE.       

The Lie Boat! training cruise on lies, lie detection and getting the truth within interviews and interrogations was a great success and we will be bringing it back next year! We are in the planning stages of the cruise and training, and at this point it looks like more of a tropical destination is in store! I am working on a unique opportunity for training and networking as well tied into this event, so stay tuned! If you want to keep up to date on the developments you can join the mailing list below. I hope to see you on The Lie Boat in 2015!

This coming Thursday, August 28th, marks the first annual Lie Boat training cruise! I am so excited about this training and I’m looking forward to all the educational sessions, networking, eating, drinking and FUN! We have a final agenda for the training, which I am very happy with, knowing that everyone will be walking away with lots of new information, ideas and contacts worldwide! Here is the final version of the training schedule:

• Session 1: “Investigative Interviewing; Foundations & Key Principles” Presented by Ray Bull, one of the foremost researchers in the field of investigative interviewing for over 4 decades. He was also instrumental in revamping the interviewing process throughout the United Kingdom.
• Session 2: “Human Memory; Extracting Truthful Recall of Information” Presented by Wesley Clark, president of LIES, LLC Linguistic Interrogation Expert Services, with over 22 years of law enforcement and criminal investigations experience with the Connecticut State Police as a Major Crime Detective and Sergeant.
• Session 3: “Obtaining Information through Cognitive Interviewing/MCI” Presented by James Kline, a 20 veteran of the Connecticut State Police, Major Crime Detective and Sergeant,  and current officer with the Orange, CT Police department.
• Session 4: “Micro Expressions and Emotions within Interviews” Presented by Maggie Pazian, a managing partner with People-Intell, an educational arm of Paul Ekman International. She has studied facial and micro-expressions, and is one of the few trained “facial-coders” in the field.   
• Session 5: “Persuasive Interviewing; Tactics & Strategies” Presented by Stan Walters, also known as “The Lie Guy”, is owner of Truth & Deception, Inc, and is one of the foremost trainers in the United States relating to ethical interviewing and interrogation practices for law enforcement, government and corporations.
• Session 6: “Language & Lying within Statements & Interviews” Presented by Wesley Clark (above) who will be discussing how the language choices we make can provide insight into the thought process of the interviewee, giving the interviewer a psychological and tactical advantage.  
• Session 7: “Investigative Statement Analysis Workshop – Written Statements” Presented by both Wesley Clark and James Kline, who have worked for years together applying principles of investigative statement analysis to some of Connecticut’s most tragic cases.
• Session 8: “Investigative Statement Analysis Workshop – Verbal and 911” Presented by both Wesley Clark and James Kline, who have worked for years together applying principles of investigative statement analysis to some of Connecticut’s most tragic cases.
• Session 9: “Using Probability to Detect Deception” Presented by James Kline (above), he was worked on the research of forced choice, or fixed choice testing, which is a method of detecting deception based on probability.
• Session 10: “False Confessions; Causes and Prevention” Presented by Stan Walters (above) who has conducted research and has testified in court relating to false confessions.
• Session 11: “Directing & Supervising the Interview Process” Presented by Ray Bull (above), who will be discussing the PEACE model and the tiered approach to training and supervision within the process of investigative interviewing.
• Session 12: “Panel Discussion and Q&A” The instructors will be asked questions, moderated by Stan Walters, and the floor will be opened to the students of The Lie Boat to ask questions as well.
• Special Session: "Interviewing through Traumatic Events" Presented by Dan Jewiss, who has 20 years of service with the Connecticut National Guard with experience in counter-drug operatioins. He is a 16 year veteran of the Connecticut State Police and will be discussing issues experienced when interviewing victims, witnesses, suspects and first responders of critical events such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting as well as other cases he has been involved in.

If you are interested in attending The Lie Boat in 2015, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or click http://eepurl.com/ExgVX and join The Lie Boat list to stay updated! Destination is unknown at this time, but the learning and FUN is guaranteed! 

What a better way to end the Summer of 2014 that on a cruise learning about lies, lie detection and getting the truth from people during interviews & interrogations! Check out The Lie Boat and sign up quickly while there is still availability!

Availability on The Lie Boat! - http://t.co/Sx78oItJps

— Wesley Clark (@WesClark) July 4, 2014