Truth Wizards? I'm Not Sure, But an Interesting Idea

In another post about spotting deception, I mentioned an FBI article that said even trained interviewers accurately spot lies only about half the time. But supposedly, there are a very few people, called truth wizards, who have accuracy ratings above 80 percent.

The literature on this issue is divided, but I recently ran across a blog maintained by one of the truth-detectors. She was identified through a study run by Maureen O'Sullivan, one of the leading researchers in this field, and offers up her story on becoming a certified truth wizard, as well as running commentary on the credibility of figures in the news. I recommend you check it out. She puts her conclusions out in the open for other people to judge her accuracy. You've got to respect that.

Meanwhile, I still haven't had a chance to see the new Tim Roth show, "Lie to Me." I hope it tries to stick to reality at least a little, and isn't just a ridiculous caricature like CSI.

Look for another Be Your Own Detective update on non-verbal indicators of deception, hopefully within the next week.

Feds Take Look at Pensacola Jail

The Department of Justice is investigating inmate treatment at the Escambia County Jail, according to the Pensacola News Journal. Not sure why, but I imagine we'll find out.

UPDATE: Turns out the PNJ has more on this story, including an explanation of the DOJ's Special Litigation Section.

Trouble for Sheriff's Offices in Okaloosa, Wakulla, and Walton counties

It's been a bad year for Sheriff's Offices in the Panhandle. One sheriff has been arrested by the feds and suspended from his position, another is under investigation in a hit-and-run, and three deputies have been fired following their own arrests in separate incidents.

The most serious case involves Okaloosa County Sheriff Charlie Morris, as reported by the Northwest Florida Daily News. He and senior administrator Teresa Adams are accused in a kickback scheme involving phony bonuses paid to employees of the Sheriff's Office. Morris was picked up in Las Vegas by federal agents, according to the paper.

Gov. Charlie Crist has suspended him from office, pending the outcome. Ed Spooner, from the Gadsden County Sheriff's Office, will be taking over temporarily. Morris also is the current president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, but I haven't seen anything yet from the FSA addressing what will happen with that position.

Crist also is considering whether to order a state investigation into a crash last week involving Wakulla County Sheriff David Harvey. Harvey struck the rear bumper of an SUV parked in the driveway of a home. A woman and her teenage daughter were in the vehicle when he hit it, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

From the paper:

Neither was seriously hurt, but Harvey but did not stop to check. He continued on to his house, where he called his head of law enforcement, Maj. Maurice Langston, and reported the crash.

F.S. 316.062 requires:

The driver of any vehicle involved in a crash resulting in injury to or death of any person or damage to any vehicle or other property which is driven or attended by any person shall give his or her name, address, and the registration number of the vehicle he or she is driving, and shall upon request and if available exhibit his or her license or permit to drive, to any person injured in such crash or to the driver or occupant of or person attending any vehicle or other property damaged in the crash and shall give such information and, upon request, exhibit such license or permit to any police officer at the scene of the crash or who is investigating the crash and shall render to any person injured in the crash reasonable assistance, including the carrying, or the making of arrangements for the carrying, of such person to a physician, surgeon, or hospital for medical or surgical treatment if it is apparent that treatment is necessary, or if such carrying is requested by the injured person.

Harvey apparently told the Democrat that he only grazed the SUV's bumper. I'm not clear on whether he knew there were people inside – remember, it was parked in the driveway – but he could argue that he had no obligation to stop and render aid because there were no injuries or damage.

One thing that has aroused suspicion about the crash is that the Wakulla County SO refused to let FHP investigate the crash. It's routine for FHP to take the lead on officer-involved crashes (Harvey was driving his county vehicle at the time).

Meanwhile, new Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson has fired three of his deputies after they were arrested in unrelated incidents on drug and traffic charges.

Florida Needs More Judges, Supreme Court Says

The Florida Supreme Court, in its annual report to the legislature, has recommended adding 29 new circuit judges and 39 new county judges. Eight circuit judges would go to the 1st, 2nd, and 14th circuits, which cover the area from Pensacola to Tallahassee. The Court also denied requests for new county judges from Bay, Okaloosa and Escambia counties.

From the report:

This Court finds that it must certify to the Legislature the need for additional judgeships. At the same time, this Court is mindful of and concerned by the budget reductions the court system and its justice system partners have sustained over the last year. There is limited value in certifying judicial need when the justice system, including court support staff, supplemental judicial resources, and staffing complements in state attorney and public defender offices, are being reduced to such a degree as to seriously impede the administration of justice in the courts.

The statewide budget for the court system has been reduced by more than $60 million and 301 positions have been cut in the last two years. At the same time, criminal and civil case filings have risen substantially, especially mortgage forclosures, the justices noted.

More Legal Problems for Girls Gone Wild

David Angier's got a piece in today's News Herald about the latest legal travails of Joe Francis. Seems he's failed to comply with the plaintiffs' request for discovery in their federal civil suit. The attorney representing the girls who allege Francis exploited them as minors has asked for a default judgment.

Walton "Minister" Shoots and Kills 2, Wounds 3 More

The Northwest Florida Daily News is reporting that a man with a recent history of threatening behavior opened fire on a neighboring townhome and killed two people this morning. From what I can find online, he looks to be a self-styled minister of some sort.

Tactical units from Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties helped Walton sheriff's deputies arrest 60-year-old Dannie Baker, who barricaded himself inside his Miramar Beach home after the shooting, according to the paper.

Baker is a former Republican campaign volunteer, but he alarmed party officials last year when he sent "radical" e-mails. They passed them on to the Walton County Sheriff's Office.

Thursday, he apparently used a rifle to open fire on a group of Hispanics at a townhome near his. Aside from the two dead, another is in critical condition and two more are expected to survive.

Florida Division of Corporation records show a Dannie Roy Baker, at the address where the standoff occurred, as a director of the non-profit Perfect Hearts Ministry.

The group's website says it was, "Organized to promote the gospel through Christian music." The site also has a book for sale called "Man's Perfection Before God," by Dannie R. Boy. The domain registration shows that Dannie Baker is the admin and tech contact.

On the website of Magnolia Books, an independent bookseller in Mobile, the author describes the book as, "This book is my testimony of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, and by my covenant with God, walking in man's perfection before God."

According to Walton County court records, a Dannie Roy Baker was charged with misdemeanor resisting an officer without violence in 2007. He pled nolo contendere and adjudication was withheld in the case. He shows only a few traffic tickets in Okaloosa County and nothing in Bay or Santa Rosa counties.

UPDATE:

A Dannie R. Baker has an ad on ABsoluteAgency.com to meet a woman. The man lives in Miramar Beach, but the date of birth is off by two years. The photos on the site show a heavier man, but with the same two streaks of gray in his beard.

In the ad, the man says:

"I'm looking for a woman to be my bride and to have my children and to enjoy my lifestyle on the beach in Florida, USA!!! I want a Christian who wants to be a ministers wife. I want a wife who wants to live in America and travel some in ministry one day. I'm looking for my dream girl that I have waited a lifetime to be with!!! If this fits your vision for life get in touch with me. Maybe God is putting us together!!!"

BYOD: How to Detect Deception, Part II

In the first part, we covered verbal indicators of deception in which a person lies by distancing himself from or skipping certain parts of a story. Lies that are just plain made up offer their own unique set of clues. These are some things to look for when you are trying to tell reality from fantasy.

Verbal Indicators, cont'd

Thanks to the Deception Blog for pointing the way to this work by British researcher Aldert Vrij. His studies were extremely helpful here.

Criteria-Based Content Analysis is used in Europe to help detect deception and truthfulness in children making allegations of sexual abuse. Although its degree of accuracy has been challenged, it does offer useful hints you can use when trying to determine whether an adult is lying.

Among the things you might look for in a story that you're being told are contextual embedding, reproduction of conversation, and unexpected complications. These can help you decide whether the story is a true account of what happened, or a made up event.

Contextual embedding in a narrative puts incidents in relation to a specific place and time. An employee tells you he was late to work because he had a flat tire, and you ask for details. A made up story will tend to be vague, while something he actually experienced will be be fixed in his mind so that he can tell you where he was and what he was doing when it happened. "I had to pull over on the expressway when I was coming in," versus, "I pulled into the Qwik Mart about the middle of rush hour, and sure enough, the tire was flat."

Reproduction of conversation uses the exact, or at least approximate, words that were spoken during the event, rather than just paraphrasing them. A wife asks her husband why he's had to work late every night that week. He says, "My boss said he wants this project done," versus, "Mr. Johnson said, 'If you don't finish this project this week, you won't meet the month's projections."

Unexpected complications are incidents in the narrative that are unnecessary to accomplish whatever action is being described. In other words, details a liar wouldn't have any reason to include. An employee accuses a co-worker of stealing product from the store room. The expected version of the narrative would be, "He grabbed the box and walked out the door." An unexpected complication would be, "He grabbed the box and started to leave, but the bottom fell out, so he had to pick up all the widgets and stuff them in his pockets."

Taken together, those sorts of details support a narrative that is more truth than lie. However, remember that accomplished liars know to embellish their stories with exactly those kinds of details to help make them more believable.

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent I used to know told me that a good way to trip up a liar with a story to tell is to take the story and work backward through it. When someone makes up a tale, or changes the details of a story to hide the truth, he memorizes and rehearses the story in chronological order. He knows, "OK, I say this, then I say this, then this." Starting at the end and working back disrupts the rehearsed version and helps reveals holes in the story.

Another system used to analyze narratives is Reality Monitoring. The idea is that people remember events they actually experienced differently than they do events they imagined, or made up.

Again, the telling factors are the details.

In an actual experience, memory contains sensory perceptions and details about the place, time and duration of the event. The person will remember, and be able to describe to you, the sounds, smells, and physical sensations of the event, as well as specifically where it took place, where the various players were positioned, when it occurred and how long it lasted.

A person telling a fabricated story will describe it in different terms, focusing more on cognitive functions, thinking the story through, rather than recalling, according to Vrij. "He must have got hit, because the next thing I know, he's laying on the floor," versus, "He was standing by the door, and Steve walked up to him and hit him. He was screaming at him as he fell."

One interesting technique I read about several years ago in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin involves analyzing the balance of a person's story.

According to the article on statement analysis, a truthful narrative spends an equal amount of time and space describing the three parts of the event: Before it happened, during the event, and afterwards.

Spending too much time describing what led up to the event could be a sign of deception, as the person is trying to stall or justify his actions. Too little time on the event itself could be an indicator that he's trying to cover up his involvement. Too little time spent describing the aftermath could mean it had little to no effect on him, even if he claims to be upset about it.

That about covers the basics of verbal deception indicators. I'll continue with non-verbal in another post.

Wuertley Charges Raised to Attempted First-Degree Murder

Remember Shawn Wuertley? He's the security guard from the Sandpiper Beacon Beach Beach Resort accused last year of sexually assaulting a teenage spring breaker and throwing her over a sixth-floor railing. Prosecutors have now bumped up his charges to include attempted first-degree murder.

According to the News Herald, the State Attorney's Office successfully argued that DNA found on a towel supported the 18-year-old girl's story that he tried to strangle her with it. Prosecutors say that points to a deliberate attempt at murder.

Wuertley goes on trial March 9 on that charge, along with sexual battery and false imprisonment.

BYOD: How to Detect Deception, Part I

Fox has a new series with Tim Roth called "Lie to Me" that I've been wanting to check out. From what I've read, it's based loosely on the work of Dr. Paul Ekman, the psychologist who's made a life study of the art of deception detection. The show's going to make people wonder, is it possible to actually tell when someone's lying? The answer is, 'Yes.' Maybe. Sometimes.

According to an article a few years ago in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, research shows that interviewers correctly identify deception/truthfulness about half the time. (Although Ekman has claimed 95 percent.) That makes it an art, not a hard science. But there are clues – both verbal and non-verbal – you can look for to help you decide when a person is not being truthful with you.

Just keep this in mind: These are only indicators of deception. You'll find material online, especially ebooks on how to tell if your spouse is cheating, that will tell you a person definitely is lying if he displays any of the indicators. That's wrong. There could be any number of reasons a person might seem to be untruthful. The idea is to use the indicators to guide you, not to reach a definitive conclusion without corroboration.

Verbal Indicators of Deception

Every person I've ever interviewed who'd committed a crime used distancing language in describing what happened. This includes utilizing passive verbs, dropping possessive pronouns, using pronouns rather than names, and any other language that separates the speaker from a specific action or person.

A person describing an attack he committed on another person might use passive voice to remove himself from the action. That would be saying, "He got hit," instead of the more direct active voice, "I hit him." Or, even if he's trying to say another person did it, he still might say, "He got hit," instead of saying, "Joe hit him." Either way, the person is keeping himself removed from the actual incident.

The way in which a person uses pronouns can be very telling, especially in the case of possessive pronouns. People commonly use possessives when talking about their belongings: My car, my house, my husband. A person trying to lie about an incident wants to distance himself from the object or action. Your teenager comes home without his car because he wrecked it and is trying to hide that fact. You ask him where it is, and he says, "I went to the mall, and when I came out, the car was gone," instead of "my car."

There's also the way a person switches between proper nouns and pronouns. A mother who has harmed her child may try to separate herself by using the child's name, rather than the more possessive "my child." And the opposite can be true, as well. Many people I've interviewed who had hurt another person were completely unable to use that person's name. Instead, they used "he" or "she" when referring to the victim. More than a few actually said, "the victim."

Of course, the most famous example of distancing language was Bill Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman." By using that qualifier before using Monica Lewinsky's name, he automatically created a space between himself and her in the listeners' minds – or he tried to, anyway.

Another indicator is the incomplete action verb, or what FDLE Agent Joe Navarro and FBI Agent John Schafer call "text bridges." These are gaps in the action as a person is narrating a chain of events. These omissions could indicate the person is trying to hide an event that occurred between two points in time.

The person might say, "We went out to the car....when we were at the party, I talked to Steve." The incomplete action is going out to the car. That's the beginning of an action, but the speaker doesn't complete it. The natural progression of this statement would have included what happened after they got to the car, i.e, "We got in and drove to the party." Instead, the speaker skips the event, which might mean something happened at or in the car that he wants to avoid.

The text bridge is, "When we were..." That transition allowed the speaker to move from going toward the car to already being at the party, quickly passing the events that occurred in between.

According to Narro and Schafer:

Some commonly used text bridges include “I don’t remember...,” “the next thing I knew...,” “later on...,” “shortly thereafter...,” “afterwards...,” “after that...,” “while...,” “even though...,” “when...,” “then...,” “besides...,” “consequently...,” “finally...,” “however...,” and “before....”

The point to both distancing language and text bridges is omission. It is easier for someone to leave something out when telling a lie than to invent a new version of the truth. By taking himself out of the action, or skipping entire portions, the person is able to tell a lie by editing, instead of creating.

OK, that's the first part. I'll continue this article in future posts.

Nation's Forensics System is Shaky, says National Academy of Sciences

Too many episodes of CSI might give you the idea that forensic science is infallible, but the National Academy of Sciences put the lie to that one this week. The NAS has released a report calling the nation's forensics system badly flawed and in need of reform.

According to the report, the certification process for forensic scientists isn't widespread or rigorous enough, and there is not enough evidence supporting the reliability of many forensic techniques.

DNA aside, "no forensic method has been rigorously shown able to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source," read a press release from the NAS.

The report also noted that forensics labs are underfunded and understaffed and don't have enough oversight.

An article at FindLaw supports that, pointing to problems found at the Baltimore and Detroit police departments, among others. Police in Detroit had to go so far as to shut down the crime lab there because of a 10% error rate in ballistics analysis. The New York Times also has an excellent piece on crime lab failures across the country.

And, the LA Times reported last month that nearly 1,000 criminal cases would have to be reviewed after a discovery that six fingerprint analysts had made serious mistakes. At least two people have been falsely linked to crimes because of the errors, the paper reported.

A recent Times investigation found that errors were partly the result of the unit's being marred by inadequate training, antiquated facilities, poor supervision, careless handling of evidence and other shortfalls.

Closer to home, an Okaloosa County man was recently freed from prison when the FBI admitted the Comparative Bullet Lead Analysis that led to his murder conviction was flawed. Jimmy Ates had already served 10 years.

Remember this if you're ever picked to serve on a jury. Don't simply assume the evidence is solid just because the witness presenting it wears a white lab coat to work.

Joe Francis Hires Tallahassee Lawyer

Joe Francis just can't catch a break in Bay County. He's been jailed, tried, and sued over his Girls Gone Wild trips to Panama City Beach. Now, with yet another civil suit pending in federal court, he's decided to look elsewhere for legal help.

The Tallahassee Democrat reports that he has hired Rick Bateman, a politically connected Tallahassee attorney, to defend him against four unnamed girls who allege he and his company sexually exploited them as minors.

From the Democrat:

He, "didn't want to hire a hometown lawyer but they didn't want to pick someone from Chicago or L.A. either," Bateman said, explaining why he was picked.

Bateman also told the paper that Francis wants Judge Richard Smoak to recuse himself. Francis has claimed that Smoak -- who jailed him for contempt after failing to negotiate a settlement -- all but forced him to give in during the last civil suit.

Francis entered a no contest plea to a series of felony and misdemeanor charges in Bay County last year in a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid further jail time. He has since announced his plans to sue Bay County over the case.

Francis also has been in and out of federal court in California on tax evasion charges. The feds allege he claimed more than $20 million in phony deductions. A federal judge in Los Angeles placed him on house arrest briefly earlier this month after he missed a court hearing.

Probation Officers Take on More Cases

Like everyone else these days, Florida probation officers are going to be doing more with less. The Department of Corrections has cut 66 officers and passed their caseloads on to the rest.

From the Pensacola News Journal:

The case juggling is another sign of a system that is stretched to the breaking point with 122,493 cases, said Matt Puckett, a spokesman for the Florida Police Benevolent Association.

The union is working with the department on the proposed shuffle, largely to avoid more layoffs, Puckett said. The state's small army of 2,500 probation officers and supervisors can't withstand any more position cuts, Puckett said.

"I don't think any of the officers are going to be happy taking on more cases," he said. "All it takes is one mistake, and then it's, 'I told you so.' Unfortunately, that usually means somebody dies."

Appeals Court Limits Corporate Execs' Protections Against Search Warrants

Thanks to Law.com for this one.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with prosecutors who searched the Nevada offices of a healthcare company during a fraud investigation in a decision that will curtail the rights of company officers to challenge search warrants.

Two California-based executives of SDI Future Health Inc. sought to have the results of the search tossed, arguing that the warrant was vague and overly broad. The court agreed that it was too broad, but decided that corporate executives have no protections against searches of offices outside their direct control.

According to Law.com, the justices said:

Except in cases of small, family-run businesses where daily control is broader, the court said an executive wishing to challenge an office search must show that the item seized was personal property otherwise kept in personal space; the defendant had custody or immediate control of the seized item; and the defendant took precautions to secure the place being searched.

BYOD: Check for Open Arrest Warrants in Florida

A criminal background check usually only shows you whether that new employee or potential boyfriend has been arrested or convicted of a crime. Open arrest warrants might not show up. Fortunately, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has a handy online tool for checking.

The Public Access System allows you to put in a name, nickname, sex, race, and date of birth or approximate age to look up outstanding warrants. If you get a hit, the system will tell you what county holds the warrant, usually what the charge is, and sometimes which law enforcement agency.

The system is limited because it's voluntary and not all counties participate. Also, the warrants listed are often misdemeanors or lesser felony offenses. That makes sense, of course. Cops wouldn't want to alert a murder suspect to an outstanding warrant before before they could serve it.

The PAS also has other features that allow you to search for missing persons and all kinds of stolen property, from guns to cars. Before you buy a used item, it might be a good idea to run its serial number or VIN through the system just to make sure it's OK.

Tallahassee Police Make Arrest in Year-Old Gang Shooting

Tallahassee police have charged three men in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy last year. Police are calling the killing gang-related, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

Apparently, the teenager was somehow involved in a previous argument/shooting with the three men -- ages 20, 22, and 23 -- and was killed as payback. One of the men drove him to the hospital and dropped him off after he was shot. The boy was carrying a loaded gun when he arrived, the paper reported.

Tallahassee police have been talking a lot over the last four or five years about what they say is a growing gang problem there. The department created its own gang unit and launched an anti-gang website targeted to at-risk kids.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Claiming gang activity is a frequent move made by smaller police agencies looking to increase budgets and placate paranoid citizens. However, police and sheriff's deputies in Tallahassee say they've documented contact between the city's gangs and national groups like the Black Gangster Disciples out of Chicago.

Myth of the Nationwide Criminal Background Check

I keeping seeing websites (like this one and this one) that offer to sell gullible consumers nationwide criminal background checks for anything from $30 to $80. Don’t waste your money on them! They can't deliver what they’re offering.

It’s as simple as this: No one outside of law enforcement can run a national criminal records check. Period. If someone tells you they can, they’re either exaggerating or lying, or they're accessing the federal database illegally.

There is only one nationwide criminal records database. It’s called NCIC – the National Crime Information Center – and it’s run by the FBI. The database contains records of criminal arrests and convictions, sex offender registrations, open arrest warrants and law enforcement holds. It also has everything from stolen cars to missing persons.

NCIC is only made available to law enforcement agencies, and the feds actually conduct routine audits to make sure officers in those agencies have good reason every time they run checks. When a law enforcement officer has to run someone, he either calls into dispatch and has it done there, or he logs in using his own ID and does the check. That way, there’s always a record of who accessed the system, and why.

You see bad TV shows where some sleazy private eye has a cop buddy who does all his records checks for him. It might happen, but not often and not for very long. Cops lose their jobs and, occasionally, get arrested over things like that.

The only way to find a person’s full criminal history is to do a state by state search, and even that might not turn up all arrests and convictions. Some states, like Massachusetts, have very strict limitations on releasing criminal records information, while Florida and others make it as simple as searching one website.

If you need a multi-state criminal records check, get a list of the person’s addresses for the last five or 10 years and start looking in each county. Or, hire a professional investigator to do it for you. Just don’t get taken in by some bogus Internet claims.