Writing Fictional Police Interrogations

In this chapter, you will learn about the legal issues with regard to Miranda. When it is necessary to be used and when it is not. You will be able to prepare screenplays or scenes of police arrests and interrogations with authenticity to the law. You will learn that Miranda is NOT automatic and has many subtleties and nuances that even many street cops are not familiar with. Your Miranda scenes will be accurate and lend to more authentic uses of the law.

In this chapter, you will learn the behind the scenes activity of detectives prior to engaging in the interview and interrogation process. You will have more detail to add to your interrogation scenes to build drama and suspense by learning what goes into building rapport with a hardened criminal suspected of committing the most heinous of crimes. You will learn some methods of better character development for both your protagonist and antagonist because this chapter will teach you about the human condition that goes into the rapport building phase.

Learn how to conduct a proper interview, not an interrogation. Not only will you learn what detectives are doing during a properly conducted interview, you will be able to take these skills into the real world, not just the fiction world, and use them yourself wen conducting research or on your daily life in your professional careers. These skills are the art of communication and the basis for an negotiation, interview, fact-finding mission, or human interaction. 

Don't jump ahead to this chapter just because you see the title and it is what you've been searching for to write better character development scenes. You need to watch the previous scenes first otherwise you will not completely understand how to use any of these methods here that will teach you how a cop becomes a human lie detector. 

In this chapter I will discuss with you some of the body language, voice and other indicators we look for when talking with a suspect, witness or victim to gauge their honesty, or determine for certain a suspects deception. These skills will work for you as well in business negotiations and other interpersonal communication at home or work. (But be careful, it can ruin your perception of people around you if you aren't careful.)

In these last segments which make up the final chapter in this course, you will learn how detectives get the suspect to confess. You will learn how taking a bathroom break is an essential part of the process and how making a specific accusation statement is crucial to the success of the rest of the process. You will learn what makes a good interrogator and how using space, time and empathy are so very effective.