How to Interview a Suspect

Co-authored by Carl Clatterbuck

Last Updated: March 17, 2025

The successful interrogation of a suspect is mostly about psychology and quick thinking. You shouldn't try to interrogate anyone if you lose your nerve or have a prejudice as to the innocence of the person. Be calm and try to find the truth, not to prove you're right in your suspicions. Be suspicious yourself so that the suspect is mystified.

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While doing so, establish the character of the questioned person. This may involve their occupation, musical preferences, family, etc.^{[1]
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Carl Clatterbuck
Private Investigator

Expert Interview} During this preliminary chat look for signs if the person is nervous and scared, prone to bragging, confident or not. Mark their level of intelligence and adapt to it.
This way you'll be able to notice the interviewed person's reaction. Remember that in 9 out of 10 cases the first impressions are the most correct.

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Look for inconsistencies. Being too detailed often shows the person has been prepared for questioning and has had the time to make their story up.^{[2]
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Your associate must pretend to say something in your ear. Give the interviewed person a short look and excuse yourself.
At this time the suspect should be worried as to what has happened during your leave.
Then proceed to ask the suspect about the inconsistent points in his story.
Some questions, like the color of a hit-and-run vehicle are easy to answer and the suspect saying they don't remember is an obvious attempt to conceal something. On the other hand, it would be strange for the interrogated person to have seen or remember the license number, so answering this question would show them having thought the whole thing over.^{[3]
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These may include crossing the hands (defensive position), sitting on the edge of the chair, too relaxed posture, tilting their head to the right, looking up as they think of the answer.^{[4]
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Expert Source

Carl Clatterbuck
Private Investigator

Expert Interview}^{[5]
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shows that the suspect is lying. People who believe in what they say do not appeal to the listener's trust.^{[6]
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This way you can see whether they're willing to answer your questions correctly.
For example, if the hit-and-run has been driving on the suspect's side of the road(assuming you're in a right-side traffic country), it's strange for the suspect to say the car had a scratch on the left side. How have they seen it? These little details most often reveal a liar.
It does not mean they're a criminal.

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How do I get a confession out of an employee who stole computer ram with company information on it?

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Make the employee your friend, and then, after a while, ask him/her for assistance on a certain topic which you know is contained in the data of the computer in which it was stolen.

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What are some common questions used by an interrogator?

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"Where were you on [date of the incident]?" "Can anyone verify your whereabouts on that date?" "What is your relationship to the victim?" If you're trying to figure out what happened, you need to ask Who, What, When, and Where questions. You want to find out exactly what happened, when and where it happened, and who was involved.

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How do I find out who stole from me at school?

Dino Lin

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Because there are so many people inside a school, unless the stolen item has a high-value (i.e. money, which you can report to an administrator), your school has security cameras, or you know who stole your stuff and the stolen item has something on it to prove that it is your property, some people know that they can get away with stealing something from someone in school and that there's nothing you can do about it.

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Tips

Be calm. Show of aggressiveness will only make your suspect refuse to talk to you.

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When you find a major inconsistency in the suspect's story don't be too quick to point it out. Let them build the rest of their story on a false base.

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Answering a question too soon means the suspect has made the story up. If they're saying the truth it should take some time for them to remember the details.

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