How to use 80/20 Rule to Catch Liars and Smugglers

Have you ever heard of the Pareto Principle? No, well maybe you have as the 80/20 rule, but what does that have to do with police interviews.  Keep on reading to find out and become a better interviewer as we continue this blog series covering the second part of the interview process: the assessment phase. Let’s dive in.

2nd Part of the Inteview Process

The good news is that the assessment part is actually one of the easiest parts if you follow this guideline. The main principle of the assessment phase is that the interviewee has to do most of the talking—think Pareto Principle. Your job here is to encourage them to give you as much information or details as possible, which will give you more data to analyze for truthfulness and credibility. The golden rule for getting as much information as possible is asking “open-ended questions.” These are questions that cannot be answered with one-word answers or yes and no. A prime example of this type of question is: Can you explain your role in this scenario? Keep your subject talking by maintaining eye contact and giving him/her verbal encouragements such as “OK” or “I see” and “am following.” You can also do non-verbal gestures such as head nods and smiling.

What to do

Take caution not to interrupt at this stage of the interview, even if you hear some inconsistencies or lies about the circumstances from previously known information. Keep that lie in reserve for now and see what other inconsistencies your interviewee gives you, which will be address in the next phase of the interview. In high stakes interview, it is important to take notes but a second officer or interviewer must take notes not the leading interviewer. This is to ensure the lead interviewer does not miss any non-verbal cues or breaks rapport.  

The Pareto Principle in Interview

What happened to the Pareto Principle and how is it used in interviewing?  Good questions and before explaining let’s refresh our minds on the basis of this principle, which is: that 80% of your outcomes derives from 20% of your causes. Now, the best way to explain it in relation to interviewing is by telling you a quick story.

A few years back a senior officer and I were tasked to interview someone that was connected to a person that was arrested for bringing contraband into the U.S. Being the senior officer, he took charge of the interview and I took notes. He began talking about how it’s a federal offense to lie to U.S. officers, how after 9/11 the penalties were high, that our agency covers many laws with high penalties and so on. The subject was nervous but he was not talking: not because he didn’t want to but because he couldn’t. The senior officer kept on breaking the Pareto principle by interrupting and talking more than the subject, 80% more to the subject’s 20%.

Seeing the interview was not going well, I quickly interrupted with an open-ended questions: When you come to the U.S. what do you usually do? The subject began talking and giving details. Then I asked, “Who do you usually travel with” and he gave two names then hesitated on the third name. That was the person that was arrested with the contraband. Another open-ended question, “tell me about your experiences with [the third person].” After some tailored questions about his involvement, he gave us the information we were searching. What I did was simply apply the Pareto Principle in the correct percentage to get the interviewee to talk 80% to my 20% open- ended questions.

Conclusion

We are moving ahead in our series and trust me when I say, you are already ahead of the pack in this area. Remember in the assessment phase, your job is to get your subjects to do most of the talking, so remember: ask open-ended questions. Having the 80/20 Rule as a backdrop in this part will ensure your success.

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