I’ve been home from IACP 2011 in Chicago for roughly 12 hours, and have reams of notes to convert into tactical tips for many months to come, but want to share one immediately that I’d recently discussed with a friend of mine in law enforcement.
If you need to approach someone to get information on a crime — whether that’s a perp or witness or whatever — and you predict that they’ll likely stonewall you, consider softening your initial verbal contact as a means of potentially softening his resistance to talking to you. Consider looking for any opportunity to find “common ground” right off the bat.
For example, if your subject is standing next to his tricked out car, consider commenting on how good the ride looks first (regardless of how you really feel) and maybe asking a question or two about it first rather than launching your contact with, “Hey, you. Come here! I need to talk to you.”
This can serve a couple of purposes. First, it can help you determine the degree to which this guy is going to block you out. If he softens, you may have room to lock in with him and elicit information. At the same time, if your complimentary comment is immediately met with a “F-you!” kind of response, well, you immediately know where you stand!
Second, this kind of unexpected “un-police work related” contact can throw him off balance mentally — get inside his OODA Loop! — and potentially dull his predisposition to immediately flag you as “just another A-hole cop” he’s not going to talk to.
