During one of my myriad “hallway confabs” at ILEETA 2012 in Wheeling last month, I was speaking with a pair of law enforcers on the topic of “quickly cutting to the truth” during everything from street contacts to interrogation-room interviews.
We talked about some of the well-known, non-verbal communication signs of deception — everything from the commonplace move bringing the hand to the mouth during the delivery of a lie, to rubbing the nose at the moment of the deception — before one of those coppers said something to me I just had never before contemplated.
I’m paraphrasing here, but he said something to the effect of, “Put your subject in a chair which has castors or wheels on it when you take them into the interview room. The minute they begin to lie, they’re going to start wheeling around.”
Now, I haven’t tried this out — yet! — but it makes all the sense in the world. After all, liars standing up tend to shift their feet (and liars lying down tend to say “I love you.”).
Okay, I’m kidding — sort of — about that very last line, but I do want to know what you think of this idea to put rollers under your interview subject.
Have you done it? Does it work?
