Principles of Interrogation

By E. Anim-Danquah

Principles of Interrogation discusses the effective and efficient application of professional attitudes and procedures in Interrogation. It places much emphasis on the efficient planning of Interrogation for the achievement of maximum best possible results, focusing on National Security Issues.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481718646

E. Anim-Danquah

This Author is an internationally trained professional in Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence and Criminal Investigation and served the Government of Ghana in these capacities for over twenty years. E. Anim-Danquah is also the author of “PRINCIPLES OF INTERROGATION”, published in the USA; “A HANDBOOK ON INVESTIGATION” and “THE ART OF INVESTIGATION”, published in Ghana. He was a lecturer in intelligence and investigation at the Ghana Immigration Service Academy and Training School concurrently for four years. He is now into private business.

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© 2013 E. Anim-Danquah. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 3/5/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-1865-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-1863-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-1864-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013903205

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

FOREWORD

CHAPTER ONE WHAT IS INTERROGATION?

CHAPTER TWO THE INTERROGATOR

CHAPTER THREE PLANNING OF INTERROGATION

CHAPTER FOUR SELECTING OFFICERS FOR INTERROGATION/COMMITTEES OF ENQUIRY

CHAPTER 5 QUESTIONING

CHAPTER 6 DISTRACTION

CHAPTER 7 INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES

CHAPTER EIGHT SECRECY IN INTERROGATION

CHAPTER NINE REPORT WRITING: THE INTERROGATION REPORT

CHAPTER 10 STATEMENTS

CHAPTER 11 MISCELLANEOUS

Appendix B

Appendix C

This Book is dedicated to The Glory Of God

and to Apostle Samuel Young Appiah,

Founder and President of The Voice Of The Lord Evangelical Church, Ghana."

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am extremely thankful to The Lord Jesus Christ, my God, by whose Grace I have been able to see this book through. I am forever most thankful to Him.

That done, I must also thank Authorhouse Publishers, Bloomington, USA, for offering me the opportunity to publish and market this book. I am particularly grateful to Pearl Matthews, the Publishing Consultant and Richard VanDeventer, the Publishing Co-ordinator, both of Authorhouse, for the special assistance and encouragement.

I am very grateful also to Dr. Charles Osei Dankwah, Madam Evelyn Darkoah and Kwame Atuahene all of Virginia, USA, who without the least hesitation, collectively provided the financial life-line to actually kick-start the publication of this book. That was when it became difficult for me to meet the conditions set by Authorhouse for the transfer of hard currency to the USA. I very sincerely acknowledge their very kind gesture.

I must also thank my wife, Cecilia Anim-Danquah Selby for providing me with the domestic encouragement and peace of mind critically needed for a project of this nature. I also thank Samuel Danquah, a student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), Kumasi; Evelyn Danquah Jnr of Mabani Steel, Tema, Ghana, and Judith Anim-Danquah also a student of KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, who are all my children, for their invaluable pieces of advice and collective efforts, even in the night, in re-typing the text for submission to the publishers.

I cannot end this acknowledgement without a mention of Elizabeth Kalo of Jospon Printing Press, Accra, Ghana, who voluntarily strained to see to the typing of the manuscript.

Many thanks to all other individuals and Corporate Institutions who also played diverse equally important roles in the overall publication and marketing of this book

FOREWORD

As an investigator, I have always enjoyed learning from other experienced investigators and from a person who has been involved in diverse investigative tasks of both National and International importance.

Anim-Danquah Emmanuel is this kind of investigator. He does not speak of himself. He has been actively involved in diverse facets of investigative duties; from simple investigations to the very complex within the National Security apparatus of Ghana.

Principles Of Interrogation, by E. Anim-Danquah, formerly of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI), Ghana’s Internal Intelligence Agency; the Ghana Immigration Service and the National Security Council Of Ghana, is no doubt an icon of his very rich experience in the field of investigation. It is a significant contribution to the enhancement of sustainable National Security objectives.

Officers and Men of various Security Institutions as well as the Intelligence fraternity will find this Book a very good companion both during and after their training programmes.

Journalists, Members of the Bar and the Bench, Business Executives, Committees Of Enquiry, as well as all others whose jobs hinge on investigation, will certainly find this book extremely useful and a very worthy companion.

M. K. GYAMFI,

DEPUTY DIRECTOR (OPERATIONS),

GHANA IMMIGRATION SERVICE HEADQUARTERS,

ACCRA. GHANA.

CHAPTER ONE

WHAT IS INTERROGATION?

In all manner of investigations, at one stage or another, certain questions will be put and certain answers will be provided - even in medical investigations. This amounts to Interrogation. The main ‘objective’ of this is to firmly establish the truth of allegations or uncertainties. It is to obtain concrete and reliable evidence from a human source to confirm a suspicion, or otherwise, through direct questioning.

In contemporary Criminal Investigations some Officers would just issue Police Statement Forms to suspects or witnesses right from the onset and ask them to give a Statement. That is not the best. It is better to first interrogate the suspect or witness, take down notes of important points and then urge the suspect or witness to then give his Statement in accordance with the answers he has provided at the interrogation, but, of course, voluntarily.

In this way the interrogator stands a better chance to obtain information relevant to the specific investigation on hand in which the suspect, witness or accused has or may have a case to answer. Otherwise, the suspect, accused or witness will just take the Statement Form and write any story at all for the investigator and of course, he will keep silent on information that may rather be vital to the specific investigation. This makes interrogation very important.

Definition: Interrogation means to question someone very closely or aggressively, in most cases over a reasonably long time, in order to obtain required information from a suspect, accused or witness.

Closely, because Interrogation requires a lot of painstaking effort. It is systematic, focused and requires a lot of tact.

Aggressively, because it may require a little aggression, when that becomes necessary. It may be for a long time because it needs to be exhaustive enough to achieve its ‘objective’ especially when the persons interrogated are not co-operative or are evasive even though it cannot be completely exhaustive.

In other words, Interrogation involves taking a person through certain measures to make him bring out or disclose certain facts relevant to an investigation and of which the person may have knowledge.

Let us consider a simple example: About five million dollars was left in a bank Manager’s Office after close of work on a Friday in June, 2004 in Accra, Ghana. The following Monday the Manager entered his office only to find out that the whole money had vanished from the office. He subsequently made enquiries from all his staff in an effort to find the money; for, it could be that someone had put it at a more secured place for him. That yielded no good result. So, the Bank Manager made a report to the Police and investigators were brought in.

One of the things the investigators did was that they questioned all the staff, one after another, very closely to first determine each person’s possible or extent of involvement, or if someone could provide a lead to help trace the missing money.

Such form of questioning is called INTERROGATION.

Let us consider some simple situations in our very homes. Supposing you lived with your children and something precious got missing from your bedroom. What would you do after a general enquiry for the whereabouts of the missing item had yielded no positive result? I believe you would sit each of your children down at a corner and systematically question each of them in order to find out who might have taken the item. Such close questioning is termed Interrogation.

Not long ago there were a series of violent demonstrations in an European country. In one such demonstrations some participants were picked up by the Police for allegedly disturbing public peace, throwing stones at public officials and distributing offensive leaflets against the security of that country. The Police picked them up for questioning to establish the justification for such behaviour and the extent of involvement of each of them in the respective crimes listed against them. This type of questioning is called Interrogation.

Lastly, supposing two people were litigating the ownership of a large Cocoa Farm and the matter was brought to you as the Station Officer of the local Police for settlement. To establish the actual owner of the cocoa farm, both litigants would be closely questioned to justify their respective claims. Each of them may of course be required to provide documentary evidence during the questioning to support their respective claims, though.

The form of questioning that will go on there is also an example of interrogation.

PREPARATION FOR INTERROGATION

The preparation for interrogation is subjective to specific tasks on hand. Generally, like any other human endeavour, there is a high tendency of deviating from the main ‘objective’ of an exercise for lack of good preparation or planning. Since interrogation is itself a very critical factor in investigations, any deviation from the main ‘objective’ of such an exercise can be very disastrous, eventually, in many ways. Painstaking efforts in preparation for interrogation is therefore paramount.

Lack of adequate preparation can result in the production of wrong Investigation Reports and since such Reports are, for instance, vital in the formulation of policies of Governments and other sensitive State Institutions, a whole State can be misled into taking wrong decisions in diverse situations to embarrass itself.

When issues bothering on National Security are affected this way, the result can be a chaotic and an insecure society. The damaging effect of this trend of affairs on the economic development of a country can be any one’s guess. Besides, there is also the likelihood of innocent people getting punished wrongly, sometimes dismissals or imprisonment.

In preparing for interrogation, some of the areas of particular