If you’re in law enforcement, you will meet psychopaths, whether you patrol the streets or serve within an investigative unit. They make up about 1% of the population, but are 10 to 20 times more likely to be involved in criminal activity. So what are the characteristics of a psychopath and how should you interview him?
They generally lack remorse, can have aggressive and violent tendencies, and are often referred to as “cold-blooded” due to lacking empathy for other people. They have high ideals about themselves and like to be the center of attention and are often very confident and charming, which they use in deceptive and manipulative ways, even with police investigators during interviews and interrogations! In fact, they often feel that it is a challenge for them to outsmart the interviewer and mislead them.
They are good at faking emotions and know right from wrong, but they just don’t care about the rules and just want what they want and are willing to lie, cheat and steal to get it.
When interviewing a psychopath, normal or typical approaches are likely to fail due in large part to their ego and lack of empathy. One of the best steps is PREPARED in detail. Know the crime, the crime scene, the evidence and witness information, understand the victim and their background, as well as the background of the psychopath, including previous arrests or previous interviews, their family history and mental health record, etc. . Get ready, get ready, get ready! This will put you in a much stronger position in their eyes. This is important because the interviewer’s lack of knowledge or preparation will appear as a weakness and they will use it to their advantage during the interview.
Psychopaths are comfortable during interviews and often lie, misrepresent stories, and fabricate information to a maddening degree, but if you lose your cool during the interview or interrogation and take an aggressive or confrontational approach, they know they’ve got you! Stay calm and stay the course, and get them talking by stroking their ego.
Often, if you appeal to their personal sense of high self-esteem, their intelligence, resourcefulness, and ability to carry out the crime, outmaneuver the victim, or fool the police, they will be more likely to keep talking. Let yourself be impressed by them! Also, keep it interesting because they can lose interest quite easily. Use multiple interviewers strategically, use photos, videos, drawings, etc. to keep your interest. A prolonged monologue will turn them off, so figure out how to keep them engaged.
Taking a moral or ethical approach, or explaining the consequences of their actions won’t work because they don’t care and feel no responsibility for their actions. They lie simply to feel superior to the person and get away with it, and they also don’t feel nervous or guilty when they lie, so they won’t display behavior indicative of deceit.
Your main goal should be to keep them talking, stroke their ego and let their story unfold so that you get more information and knowledge about them and about the crime and eventually there will be so many contradictions and their lies will be more blatant.
Your approach to the interview or questioning and your attitude should be confident and controlled, so don’t play Columbo the distracted detective, because they see this as a weakness and will surely take advantage of it. Knowing the crime scene forwards and backwards is also crucial, this way you can pinpoint where the psycho went wrong and what mistakes he made. This is likely to upset them because they have a very high perception of your intelligence and competence and will argue the point and in doing so may reveal more information that will help your investigation.
You can try to bond and connect with them, but don’t expect a true emotional connection or rapport. Keep them talking and focus on them, their telling of the story, their information and activities, because the most important topic for them is themselves and their intelligence, so go ahead and stroke their ego.
Their persuasiveness, charm, and cunning can mask their true intentions and feelings, and they are adept at using body language effectively and masking emotions. This is how they manipulate and take advantage of their victims, and this is how they also manipulate and take advantage of investigators during interviews and interrogations. However, pay attention to their language and the words they use, as this can give them away. If you keep them talking, they will give you verbal clues that will lead you to the truth, because even though they lie without concern or guilt, they know the truth about what happened and often their words will betray them, so keep them talking!
Because they are so selfish, they can often use the words “I”, “me” and “my” more than most people, so remember them like a parrot and focus on them too. Also, when they talk about emotional incidents, they are likely to be flat and unemotional, with no change in tone or inflection in their voice, simply because they are not felt or experienced, so don’t try to appeal to their emotions, as this approach will fail.
The bottom line is to plan and prepare your interview approach in detail, be confident and in control of the interview process, focus on them and stroke their ego, keep them engaged and talking and really listen to the words they use and more. Everyone, be safe and pay attention, because psychopaths have violent tendencies and they change pretty fast at any given time. It is certainly challenging for an investigator to interview a psychopath, but with the right mindset and the right tactical approach to interviewing or questioning, you can have a successful outcome.