Crime & Criminal: What Every Criminal Body Says

By Alan Elangovan

In a bid to dissect criminal body language, there are a lot of things attached to it which must first be understood. In this book, many of those issues were tackled and body language of criminals was discussed in the basic terms—nothing blurring or too technical to be understood. Even though suspects do deny their involvement in a crime they are being interrogated for, the signs are subtly written all over their body and it only takes a body language expert to decode them.

This book is an invaluable guide to every law enforcement officer and everyone who craves for a tranquil society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Sep 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781543765724

Alan Elangovan

Alan Elangovan is a renowned body language expert. With experience spanning over three decades in the field, Alan is surely a shining light in the industry. Over the years, he consciously learnt how to read people’s facial expressions and has applied the tricks learnt on countless occasions without fail. This book is a summary of what one can achieve with “the inner eye.” The author is deeply concerned with the increasing rate of deceits in the contemporary world and how officers are falling prey. In this book, he surmises what officers need to know, how they should look at their subjects and how to see unseen to be able to establish the truth in a case. He shares from his personal experiences to make the book practical and simple to apply.

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Copyright © 2021 by Alan Elangovan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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CONTENTS

What Is This Study About?

A Leap Into The Book

Acknowledgement

Before We Zoom Off!

Chapter 1     Unique Interpretations of Crime

Chapter 2     What Do You Know about Body Language?

Chapter 3     You CAN Detect Crime!

Chapter 4     How Criminals Fail the Test of Space and Distance

Chapter 5     What the Look of a CRIMINAL Says

Chapter 6     The Eyes Have the Master Key

Chapter 7     The Power of Touch in Communication

Chapter 8     Displaying Your Skills Against Criminals

Chapter 9     How to Hear the Sound of a Criminal

Chapter 10   Postures and Gestures: Know the Secrets of a Criminal

Chapter 11   The Unknown Powers in Manner of Expressions

Chapter 12   The Message in a Criminal’s Hands

Chapter 13   The Impacts of Your Culture on Body Language

Chapter 14   How YOU Can Become Better in Body Language Reading

Chapter 15   Why You Miss the Road!

Conclusion

References

WHAT IS THIS STUDY ABOUT?

This study considers the basics of criminal body language. Criminal ways are overly complex and cannot be understood through mere perception or conventional knowledge, which in most cases is archaic, not result-oriented or even backward. The study investigates simple body language cues that law enforcement officers can rely on to get verbal evidence from suspects. The work reveals that one of the major impeding factors in accurately reading body language signals is stereotypical thought—hasty generalizations and assumptions that have no basis in science.

One of the soothing findings of this study is that we all can accurately read people’s body language if we pay attention to the right echoes. The study aptly explored the right steps in doing this. Another important aspect this study digs into is on the concept of emotions. In fact, it was revealed that emotions and body language signals are inseparable. So, it becomes inevitable to understand the concept so as to actively engage body language discourse. When criminal suspects discover that they are about to be busted, they becloud an officer’s reasoning with emotions. Thus, it was revealed that emotions can either be true or fake. Most times, what is being displayed by criminals and other people with negative intents is fake. They want falsehood to look truthful at the expense of the whole society.

The study established that facial expression is perhaps one of the most discussed concepts while reading body language. This is because it is the most exposed area of our body and countless subtle subconscious subtle messages are embedded in it. On the other hand, people tend to neglect haptic communication, which is body language of touch because much emphasis is not laid on it. For instance, Japanese culture does not support touching which is an inevitable part of western culture. Other major findings of the study center on sitting and standing postures. What most people fail to realize is that there are many more messages in the lower part of the body than the upper part on which almost everyone is focused on. In fact, many suspects are unaware of the unconscious signals in the lower part of their body and so, give little attention into feigning them.

Perhaps, the most resounding message passed by this study is that body language can be correctly read by anyone—members of the public can read body language in an informed manner. Due to the simple style adopted, every reader will know what it takes to read body language. In the case where a member of the public reads the body language of their subject and discovers anything incriminating, they can easily alert law enforcement officers so that the latter can take proactive steps in dealing with the situation. If every member of the public becomes concerned about the body language messages of their co-interlocutors, then a lot of criminal activities would be averted.

A LEAP INTO THE BOOK

The book considers criminal body language in its basic form. Apart from giving a charming and purposeful introduction which serves as a guide on the path the book will take, the book is well structured to provide answers to every yearning soul who wants to have an edge over criminals. The book opens with the explanation of the meaning of crime. You have to understand what crime is and how the body reacts to it in different situations if you want to truly know what the concept encompasses. Every point discussed in the book is well linked. Despite its volume, the book is professionally organized and well-defined.

Although crime detection is not child’s play, it is not an insurmountable mountain either. It only requires our expertise and paying critical attention to the needful. In the book, we discussed how officers can detect any form of crime by solely relying on body language. Let me reiterate that there is no perfect accuracy in body language reading and as such, nobody can lay claim to have 100% knowledge on subtle cues. However, the concept of identifying body language through clustering makes it very possible to rely on the cues in understanding a person’s inner intents.

To ensure that the insights shared in the first section of the book are well foregrounded, we also focused on space and distance. When criminals or other people with a negative mindset are about to inflict pains on their target person, they first violate their rules of space and distance; they think less of their privacy and being choked will be at their target’s detriments. Criminals feign love in order to take over people’s space and then wound them—whether material, emotional, or physical injury. We also gave some relevant case studies to back up the points explicated in the chapter.

In addition, I explained how to understand emotions through facial expressions. People mostly express their emotions through the face just in a bid to lure you to their side, not following intellectual facts in this case, but based on sentiments. Female suspects may display emotions and subtly lure the law enforcement officer into playing love with them. When emotions come from the within, it is true and should be believed. I also discussed basic emotions in details and then criminal emotions which is our major focus.

From there, we went on to explore ways through which the eyes serve as embodiment of messages. The saying that eyes are the windows of the soul cannot be over quoted. The eyes are the most important sensory organs to humans. Without it, we feel useless and worthless. We can use the way people’s eyes move to determine perpetrators of crimes. This may sound magical, but it has scientific backing, and the topic was explored along that line. Another essential concept to our subject matter is the body language of touch, technically referred to as haptic communication. The way in which people touch us bears different messages. First, I explained the meaning of haptic communication and then reeled out ways in which it is expressed in the body.

Closely related to body language in crime detection is criminal profiling. When a criminal is proving difficult to arrest, you first profile him/her based on the previous information you have about them before giving them a chase. Profiling is when a perpetrator of crime is determined based on their likely behaviors. That is, people’s attitudes reflect in the crimes they commit. This must be professionally done, however, so that the wrong person will not be made to pay for an innocent offence. Then, I highlighted the things to focus on during an interview session. Remember that the interviewee cannot really be regarded as a suspect at the point of interview until you establish some sort of evidence against them, and this is the reason why it has to be done professionally. It serves as the foundation on which every other process is built upon.

The next few chapters saw the practical aspect of our discourse. For instance, we discussed the body language of sitting and standing postures. The way you sit determines the message that would be passed across to people, and likewise, standing as well. Officers who are in the field will always interrogate suspects while standing and we must be able to properly decode the message each person bears. The ways criminals talk is different from how every other normal person does; they have codified their own language by giving the conventional words meanings different from what every other person interprets it to mean.

Furthermore, our discussion of body language is incomplete without discussing the place of culture in it. Culture plays a crucial role in the interpretation of body language signals; if it is done out of context, you are bound to get wrong result. This accounts for reasons people default when it comes to the accurate interpretation of body language cues. I concluded the book by discussing ways in which you can improve on how to read body language more accurately and reasons why people give erroneous interpretations to gestures.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would be an ingrate not to acknowledge the contributions of everyone that contributed to the success of this book. Without their effort, motivations and optimistic push, this book would have remained a dream. First, I want to appreciate my family. There is no gainsaying that I have the best family on earth. They showed me an unrivalled level of love during the duration of this project. Without a stable mind at home, I could not have concentrated on the project and finish it in a record time. I thank them for their commitment to my goals and endurance. I also appreciate my friends and colleagues. They were deeply passionate about this project and were willing to lend a helping hand whenever it was needed. My colleagues at work collaborated with me on several grounds. Their effort further made me understand the importance of teamwork. Without mincing words, I work with the best team any professional can yearn for.

In addition, I want to acknowledge the push of every participant in my training sessions who asked for a detailed document that would be useful for all purposes. When their calls became overwhelming, I had to ‘bow to their pressure’. Let me confess that I have come to appreciate the calls better upon the completion of the project than how I valued it at the beginning. Thank you for keeping up the calls and being insistent that I share the insights in my training sessions in a book.

Basically, I wrote this book due to the increasing demands for it. Many of my participants could not just get over the knowledge and practical insights shared during my training sessions. I am passionate about making the world a better place and the easiest way I can do this is by sharing the knowledge and experience I have garnered over the years. In this book, I concentrated primarily on criminal body language and relayed my experiences in a way that can be stood by all and sundry. Again, I might have not developed the boldness to write this book without its overwhelming demand from different quarters. Once again, I must appreciate you. Thank you for believing in my ability to undertake this enormous project. I am truly honored and inspired to do more.

As you read this book, I want you to open your mind because it is filled with endless opportunities and insights. I have been to over 15 countries of the world to train people on this subject matter. So, be sure that whatever issue is raised in this book is from an informed manner with consideration to many authors, scholars, cultures, and worldviews. In the same vein, I have trained over 120,000 people. All these people have had great impacts on me. The interactions, questions, and contributions made by every participant built me up to this level. Be sure that I took into cognizance, all suggestions and points made by people from different nationalities in writing this book. Without mincing words, this book would not have been this rich without listening to your views.

Lastly, let me appreciate you, yes, I mean YOU for taking out time to read this book. Thank you for believing that I can write a book that can be of great impact to you. May you find value in it as you read through the pages. I sincerely love and appreciate you.

BEFORE WE ZOOM OFF!

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Different scholars have affirmed that communication is more of non-verbal than verbal expressions. This affirmation is universal and not peculiar to any given profession or race. However, it seems to be more of a concern to officers due to the countless ways in which crimes are being carried out in society. Criminals want to have a sense of belonging and yet, they are aware that society frowns at their actions. So, in order to find a balance for these obvious parallel ways, they feign their behavior and adapt to conform themselves to the societal patterns. This is an indication that, if care is not taken, officers can easily be deceived by evildoers.

From the foregoing, it is vital to state that the term ‘officer’ refers to any individual tasked with the duty of finding out the truth in a department or organization or society at large. It can be used for law enforcement, bank officers, or senior officers from the private sector. Once an individual is given the duty of investigating an alleged crime, they qualify to be named ‘officer’ as used in this book. This implies that the insights shared in this book can be used by all and sundry; it is exclusively written for any profession.

Beyond officers, members of the public should also strive to understand how to read body language. This is to ensure that they do not fall victim of avoidable losses. A lot of evils can be averted through proactive reading of the non-verbal cues of others. In every engagement with people, you must not relegate the place of body language. When members of the public become very intentional about body language, they can easily raise an alarm when they see anything unusual.

The focus of this book is to reveal the secret of criminal body language. Before going far, it is pertinent to state that anybody who does what is contrary to the expectations of society or immediate society is regarded as a criminal. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to do with gun-carrying; it may be in the form of a co-worker working against your progress or a family member undermining your efforts in getting something tangible done. In short, any act that tilts towards the negative or the set standard is regarded as being criminal.

Understanding the Secrets of Criminal Body Language

To give you an encompassing view of what we are about to do in this book, let me quickly explain the secret to criminal body language: if you want to truly understand a criminal body language, you must focus on their behavior. Without mincing words, everything that we are going to discuss in this book is hinged on behavior. Body language itself is a psychological concept. When an individual wants to perpetuate crime, it would have been exposed through their body language. Even when they are carrying out the crime, their body language will also pass the message across, and when they are through with the criminal act, they would still be convicted by their body language. However, if you do not open your inner eye, there is no way you can get ahold of the gestures.

Before a crime is carried out for instance, there would first be a strong argument between the internal and the external emotions. The internal emotion does not support crime because it is not a natural body order. However, the external emotions will try hard to convince it on why the crime must be committed. During this argument, the body reacts. It should be noted that the person has not even committed the crime at this point, but the body is telling you that the individual is up to something. For instance, the person might have to withdraw his or herself from others in order to enable them to plan well. Some of us do notice unusual behaviors from our colleagues and loved ones, but instead of us to find out what possibly led to it, we will ignore the warning signs. It means you have not gotten hold of the secrets of criminal body language.

In the same vein, when the crime is being committed, the body will still react in a unique manner. Let us take the crime of forgery as a case study. If an employee wants to forge a document in their workplace, they would have targeted when no one would be around. Also, they would not want to do it when everyone else had left the office because they can be easily traced. When they are moving close to the document they want to forget, they would tiptoe if there is no one in sight, while looking around to ensure that no one sees them. Their body will be practically shivering because they are afraid of being met at the scene of the crime. Their eyes would be filled with fear or anxiety. No matter how well planned the crime is, a criminal still nurses some degree of fear of being found out.

And after the crime, a criminal would not be fully balanced while investigations are still going on. They know that they can still be found out. In the example of forgery under consideration, the criminal will not go near the office where they had forged the document. They would not want to associate themselves with that vicinity. In the same vein, when any issue relating to forgery is raised, they would look away, keep mum and feign ignorance. I will still explore this subject matter wholly in the book.

Body language interpretation is an invaluable tool that supports investigations and crime detection. By paying attention to the non-verbal cues of others, one can see the suspicions in their body. When the body language of an individual does not align with their words, it is a red flag that tells you that all is not well. For instance, if a jovial, friendly, and introverted person suddenly becomes cold, averts eye contacts, and keeps to themselves and claims that they are fine, the claim is suspicious because it does not reflect their baseline. Further, if an individual frowns but forces themselves to smile at some point, it is perceived as an act of deception because such a smile is just a cover-up. Examples abound and as we progress in this book, as you will learn more about suspicions created by body language.

Detection of Abnormal Behavior

Again, suspicion is an innate ability of humans but a lot of us do not put it to work. You cannot detect crime if you are not suspicious. By being suspicious, I do not mean that you should become paranoid, but you should be able to know when something is not right. The brain compares between normal and abnormal behaviors and flags anything that does not fall in the natural order. Remember, I made it clear earlier that the human brain does not subscribe to crime. Therefore, there is often an intense argument between the conscious and unconscious mind if you want to commit crime. The conscious mind needs to give countless reasons for undertaking the endeavor. Of course, the unconscious brain is very stubborn; no matter the degree of conviction, it will still maintain its stance. Thus, if you are truly observant, if someone is about to commit crime within your vicinity, you should be able to spot them.

For instance, you need not be told that it is an abnormal behavior for someone who is wearing an emotion of sorrow to be smiling at the same time. The smile would not be charming because it does not occupy the entire face. This is abnormality and you should be suspicious of it. It means the person is intentional about playing on your intelligence. In the same vein, if someone is telling you that they are pleased to see you, but they are not enthusiastic about receiving you, you must know that they are only being deceptive. This is why I am always taken aback when some people fall victim of crime, and they would say that the criminal did not show any sign of their intentions. This is wrong and a needless elevation of the criminal’s intelligence. The truth is that no matter how small it is, the person would have displayed their intentions, but you were too naïve to get ahold of them. Well, if you have been a victim of such situations before, keep calm as it would be extensively addressed in this book. You will understand how to spot a criminal even before they strike.

To be an outstanding reader of body language, you should not think with your emotions but with your brain. The brain does not allow itself to be clouded with emotions. When it comes to abnormal behavior, it is pertinent to state that you might not know what is actually wrong, but your mind will definitely tell you that something is not right. Let me make this clearer: If your child returns from school and instead of coming to hug and tell you some of the major events that happened in school, she frowned, greeted you passively, and then headed straight to her room and lock the door on herself, do you need a seer to tell you that something is wrong? Definitely, no! You know that something is not right with your daughter, but you need to speak with her before you can know exactly what. This is the same principle you must use in dealing with criminal suspects. Once their body language flags them up, then you have to question them along the line of your suspicions to establish the truth.

Detection of Deception

Another crucial area that this book centers on is detection of deception. In fact, this is the primary focus of the book. When we talk about criminal body language, all that we are saying is how criminals deceive people with both their verbal and non-verbal expressions. If you are engaging a criminal suspect, approach the person with an objective mind, but do not expect them to tell you the truth without drilling them to a point of no return. Criminals are very stubborn and will keep the truth away from anyone that is capable of punishing them. In short, almost every criminal is a liar. They will only tell you what they want you to hear but not what you want to hear. For instance, a criminal suspect might be telling you how they were neglected by their parents and how they suffered in life without a mention of the crime you are investigating. You will wonder how what they are saying actually concerns you. Well, they just want to appeal to your emotions and waste your time on irrelevant stories.

This is why you need mastery of body language tools. Let me state it absolutely that without an understanding of body language, it will be impossible for you to establish the truth in a criminal case. When a suspect intentionally decides to deceive you and wear fake expressions, how will you know? When you master body language reading, you will use the tools to engage any given suspect in any given context. This tells you that body language tools can be universally applied. If you are able to detect deception, that is the end of the road for that suspect. Criminals cover up their evil acts with lies. Once you uncover the lie, you just relax and watch them confess all that they did. Of course, it is easier said than done, but I can assure you that if you stay true to the process, reading body language accurately is one of the easiest things to do.

In this book, I will approach the concept in the simplest and most practical manner. Remember, I said that this is the central theme of the book. Hence, we will dedicate different chapters to understanding ways to uncovering deception.

If you ask the first question and the suspect sounds deceptive, it is okay for you to assume that he or she is a liar. With this, you would become critical of them. Mindset is very crucial in reading body language. If you do not ‘attack’ a criminal suspect with all the arsenals you have, they may escape when you least expect it. In other words, you need to be proactive when reading people to spot deception. If you miss the first sign, the criminal will complicate issues so that they can intentionally confuse you. You must be so thorough from the outset.

Again, let me remind you that if you want to truly detect deception, you will not just focus on a part of the body—you must read your subject in an encompassing manner. I will keep hammering this fact all through the book.

Body Language and Criminal Profiling

In addition, we will peruse how criminal profiling is done. This concept is made popular by the FBI but some of us only discuss it at the surface level; we talk about profiling criminals without knowing the real ingredients that make it possible. Before going further, I need to make you know that without body language, criminal profiling is impossible. You can only profile people by mastering their non-verbal behavior. Again, this tells you the indispensability of body language in finding out the truth. Once you are not superficial about it, body language is a very helpful tool in every facet of life.

When you are profiling a criminal, it means you have not met them before; you are only relying on the background information you have gathered to trace and apprehend them. If you do not understand body language, you are likely to get the profiling wrong and this means that you will arrest the wrong person. This is an exercise in futility. In criminal investigations, time is of great essence. You need to get things right from the outset. If you want to profile a criminal, the major question you should ask yourself is ‘what is their behavior?’ This is because you cannot detach a person from their behavior. What defines our personality is how we behave and relate with people. It has been discovered that no matter how hard an individual hides their behavior before committing a crime, there will still be a link exposing them.

Basically, my focus at this point is to establish the link between criminal profiling and body language and I have been able to do that. Behavior is the bridge linking criminal profiling and body language. As you might have known, there are different stages in profiling. First, you need to gather information about the possible perpetrator of a crime, analyze the information, and streamline it to a particular individual before launching out in a manhunt. When you consider all the processes, you will discover that you can only make your decision based on their possible body language. For example, when profiling, you will determine the criminal’s behavior before they committed the crime and how they behaved during the crime and even after. A right guess of their body language at each of these stages will ensure that you do not misfire. If you want to be an outstanding criminal profiler, you need to first strive to understand body language reading. This is the foundation for everything that you will do in criminal profiling.

A whole chapter is dedicated to explaining how to conduct criminal profiling. It is so unfortunate to note that this concept is caught in the midst of endless controversies. This is because people do not follow the defined way of conducting a criminal profiling. If you subscribe to a substandard means of profiling, you can be sure that the results would be porous and unacceptable. In this book, you will understand how you can practically profile a criminal even without prior experience and yet, you will still hit the nail on its head.

Using Body Language in Responding to Crime

If you have ever participated in any of my training sessions, you will agree with the fact that I do present a balanced view of whatever concept I teach. When we talk about criminal body language, our discussion will not be holistic if we only focus on criminal body language; what does your own body language say too? Sometimes we let out the wrong body language signals and expect to read the right ones from our co-interlocutors. This is a wild dream that cannot be realized. If you master and display the right body language signals, it is good bait to apprehending criminals. Does it sound superficial? Well, this is a technique that I have applied on numerous occasions, and it has never failed me. Let me put it better thus: You can use the right body language signals to puncture the plans of a criminal.

First, you can mirror a criminal body language. When you mirror a person’s body language, it means you are behaving the same way they are doing. It is like wearing the same clothes as them. It has been said by scholars in the field that when you mirror the body language of an individual, it makes your conversation with them run smoothly. So, if a criminal suspect thinks that he or she is smart and decides to lie and behave in a fake way, just mirror their body language. Very soon, they would discover that you will beat them at their game. Once you have mirrored their body language, they have no choice than to come out with it. This means that without uttering a word, you will reverse them back to their factory setting. In other words, they would be forced to dump the fake body language and adopt their real body language. This is where the investigations can take place properly.

Furthermore, you can use body language in responding to a criminal suspect by displaying positive body language signs all through. From experience, I have discovered that positive body language often overpowers negative body language. If a suspect decides to be stubborn and keeps displaying negative body language signals, you should just make sure that you do not depart from the noble part of demonstrating positive body language. It will get to a point that he or she will be tired of the negativity. This is because negative body language breeds stress. That is, the suspect would soon be worn out. This is the reason why many of them cannot endure a long-duration investigation. They put unnecessary burdens on themselves.

Through your body language cues, you can make a criminal suspect understand that you are aware of their tricks. Once you subtly pass this message, they will understand that they have no hiding place. Criminals only tend to flex muscles and prove their smartness when they discover that they are somewhat smarter than the officer investigating them. However, when you respond with the appropriate body language, they will mellow. It would have been obvious to them that they cannot play on your intelligence and get away with it.

When it comes to non-verbal communication, it is not about what one sees but what one fails to see; the message is always hidden in the unseen. If I may ask, what do you normally fail to see the body language of your co-interlocutors? Well, you cannot know how naïve you are at this point until you are through with this revealing book. What I have discovered about many people through my training sessions and interactions with colleagues is that they lack inner eyes. Many of us will see the signs of deceit, yet we would not be able to discern them. This is why I am always baffled to see people falling prey of avoidable losses. Communication is essentially non-verbally. I want you to live with this consciousness as from this moment. If you are