Elite fed interrogation unit training local police, other agencies

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government's elite interrogation unit, formed in the aftermath of the al-Qaeda suspect torture scandal, has been providing extensive training to local police, other federal agencies and friendly foreign governments.

Since its creation in 2009, the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, overseen by the FBI with members drawn from the bureau, Defense Department and CIA, has sponsored instruction and research for at least 40 agencies, including the Los Angeles and Philadelphia police departments.

While members of the so-called HIG have been involved in controversial encounters with terror suspects, including interrogations aboard U.S. war ships, HIG Director Frazier Thompson asserted that the group's techniques bear no resemblance to the abusive treatment exposed following the capture of al-Qaeda suspects wanted for their alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks and during the Iraq War.

"Everything we do is lawful, humane and based on the best science available,'' Thompson, of the FBI, said in an interview with USA TODAY.

That science, Thompson said, is in increasing demand, especially among local law enforcement agencies facing an array of potential threats and the responsibility to gather accurate information from suspects and witnesses.

"We're having to say no to people,'' Thompson said.

Mark Fallon, chairman of the HIG's Research Committee, said the group's work has in part been directed at challenging long-held law enforcement practices that have relied on confrontational or adversarial techniques to elicit information during interrogations.

"Many of us made our bones by getting bad guys to confess to crimes. We're challenging that identity by suggesting that you may not have been as effective as you think,'' Fallon said.

Fallon referred to statistics maintained by the Innocence Project, which laid some of the blame on coercive or harsh interrogation methods for contributing to dozens of false confessions in criminal investigations.

According to the Innocence Project, which uses DNA evidence to challenge flawed convictions, one in four of the 333 people wrongly convicted and later exonerated by DNA evidence made false confessions or incriminating statements to investigators.

"We're stepping on some toes,'' Fallon said.

HIG-sponsored research has rejected so-called enhanced interrogation tactics, from waterboarding to prolonged exposure stress, indicating that "critical analysis fails to justify their use,'' Fallon and Iowa State University psychology Professor Christian Meissner wrote in a September article for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

"The team of psychologists is clearly able to show that interview strategies based on building rapport and seeking to understand a suspect's motivation to cooperate are more effective than accusatory practices that attempt to raise anxiety levels, fabricate evidence and minimize a suspect's perception of their own culpability,'' the researchers concluded.

Thompson declined to elaborate on how the HIG teams have been carrying out their work in high-profile terrorism cases, except to acknowledge that the special interrogation teams have been deployed 32 times since the group's creation six years ago. But Thompson said the research and training offered to local law enforcement and other agencies always has been part of the group's mission, though it is primarily focused on gathering critical intelligence from high value suspects or witnesses.

In Philadelphia, researchers are assessing whether the design of actual interrogation rooms can improve the quality of information provided to investigators. In Los Angeles, meanwhile, detectives in the agency's Robbery-Homicide Division, have been employing cognitive interviewing techniques that seek to enhance memory, often by engaging witnesses and suspects in non-confrontational conversation, rather than traditional interrogation.

LAPD Detectives Greg Stearns and Tim Marcia said the HIG training has helped them develop an appreciation for extensive interview preparation, outlining both long and short-term goals.

The detectives also said they have increasingly employed the tactic of assigning a detective to an outside room to observe the actual interrogation. During breaks, Stearns said, the monitor can serve as a "coach'' to redirect the focus if needed, based on information or observations perhaps missed by interrogators in the session.

"There are a thousand things going on in your mind during these sessions, and your listening skills actually go down so you can easily miss something,'' Stearns said. "Having a third party involved helps to improve that... The brass ring may not necessarily be a confession.''

Philadelphia police Lt. John Walker is hopeful that the research into the basic design of an interrogation room can help build rapport with witnesses and victims in the city's Southwest Division where cooperation and trust have been a challenge for police.

St. Joseph's University researchers,led by Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice assistant professor Christopher Kelly, are in the midst of comparing the experiences of witnesses and victims questioned in one of two settings: a traditional interrogation room, featuring sparse metal furnishings and harsh, florescent lighting versus a space more resembling a doctor's inner office, with area rug, comfortable chairs and warmer lighting.

"We've never undertaken anything like this,'' said Walker, adding the case interviews are being confined to non-fatal shootings and robberies in the division. The crimes are among the most difficult cases to solve in part because of the local community's unwillingness to provide information to police. There have been nearly 200 non-fatal shootings in the district so far this year, up about 7% from last year.

"We're looking at this from a different perspective,'' Walker said. "The layout of a room may change the mindset of witnesses and even the detectives.''

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