Statement Analysis: Practice, Practice, and More Practice

In training seminars, I often implore attendees to "practice, practice, and practice some more" so that they will find, in approximately two years, that they are "good" at analysis.

Having said this, I have often found that in the days or weeks after training, an investigator will analyze a statement, have the analysis checked (with additions) and solve a case perfectly through the analysis.

They will value the instruction and will be inspired to practice.

Our principle of revisiting statements, when the emotions have cooled (and we have "moved on", that is, processed the information), that when we return to the same statement, the yield is specifically increased as more information comes into focus.

This is natural.

The brain, while processing the information, will develop an opinion and with enough sensitivity indicators, for example, the analyst may conclude, "this guy is lying!" which will become settled into the brain, and there is a certain, "I'm done, let me move on!"

This is the fourth year that I have been teaching Statement Analysis which means, for some statements, it is the fourth year that they have been presented to well educated (and in some cases, already trained in Statement Analysis!) professionals.  Some law enforcement, some human resources, but also attorneys, business professionals, therapists, social workers, insurance or civil investigators, and others, well invested in learning the truth.

In this presentation, new information has come forward, as recently as this past Tuesday, on statements that I have not only successfully covered in investigations (to completion) but have been, or so I thought, exhaustively analyzed!

It is amazing.

This past week, one statement, in particular, was used as it has been in classes for 4 years, yet an attendee focused in on a single word that has not been covered by anyone, myself included, and it was analyzed by an attendee with a law degree who saw in it what has not been seen by me, other analysts, and a great deal of professionals.

Because this statement was one of "my own", that is, one that I not only investigated, and received a confession, but it was one in which I asked the subject, after the confession, to go through the statement with me, allowing me to confirm accuracy or correct deficiency.

I know a lot about the case, but in particular, I know a great deal about her thinking when she stole from her employee, including information about her history, personal life, and even what happened to her after the confession and adjudication of her legal case.

Therefore, I was able to confirm some seemingly minor point as fitting perfectly.

The same statement I use in all trainings, for the past 4 years, still yielded "new" information as someone with just a few hours of training in principle, highlighted.

Statement Analysis, even after all these years, still amazes me.

Since it is that we have to learn to "listen" in a new way, for the first time in our lives, it is also true that if attendees do not practice and continue Statement Analysis training, the brain will naturally revert back to the 'dulled listening' that it has always done.

This is as solid a principle, as any principle found within the learning:

Statement Analysis must have continued application and continued learning in order to become part of the personality of the analyst.