Statement Analysis & Truthfulness

One thing to keep in mind about Investigative Statement Analysis is that it’s not just for identifying deception. I know that may be obvious to some people reading this, but it seems that there are people, including investigators, who have lost sight of this. It is important to calibrate yourself, or recalibrate, to a neutral and objective zone when analyzing language. Staying neutral and objective will give you the best results when applying principles of statement analysis and help you avoid confirmation bias. This dangerous mindset can occur within statement analysis as well, in that you only look for indicators of possible deception within language and dismiss, or miss altogether, indicators consistent with truthfulness. Throughout my years as a detective and sergeant within the Connecticut State Police Major Crime Squad, I have had a lot of success with using investigative statement analysis in identifying deception and securing accurate and reliable confessions from people. I have also had a lot of success using these same principles to prove the reliability of written statements when other people were doubting their veracity, including victims of kidnappings, robberies and sexual assaults, as well as suspects accused of sexual assaults, theft and other crimes too. Investigative statement analysis is a powerful tool when used properly, but as with anything, it can lead an investigator astray if used inappropriately.