Interrogation/Viewing Rooms and Holding Cells
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The worst had happened (and no, he wasn't being overly dramatic). Shacklebolt had been named their new YATIL. So, it was a not very eager Ronan that entered the interrogation room at the stroke of noon that day for the planned 'special training'. Only to find that he was the first person there. Of course. "Why is it that I'm the only who bothers to read the bulletin board?" he remarked under his breath. It did cross his mind that there could someone there, just disillusioned or under an invisibility cloak, which is why he cast a silent Homenum Revelio. |
Being someone who just had been back after a medical leave was not easy. Even though Ava had just needed to complete a few modules that she hadn't finished last year but it wasn't as easy as it seemed. The 21 year-old tried her best to catch up and juggled herself between her YATI training, helping the security team and also a regular check-up with her therapist. At least her condition now was manageable enough by all the prescriptions she had been given. After she finished with her morning tasks, the 21 year-old headed to the interrogation room for a special training (or at least that's what Cambridge said on her notice). Oh look, someone was already here. But it didn't mean she was late, right? "Carter." Ava gave a small greeting and a nod. This seemed intriguing. |
The thing was, when Emilia wanted something bad enough, she put the blinders on and didn't look back. It had always been that way, in every area of her life, and it didn't always end well. So far, though, it seemed to be paying off here at the ministry. The soon-to-be twenty year old felt motivated in a way she hadn't in a long time, and it felt good to have a direction, even if she knew she had a lot more road ahead of her to conquer. Slipping into the interrogation room, the brunette glanced around before her eyes settled on the other trainees. She offered them a polite nod of her head. "Hey." |
At 12 sharp, Lex moved into the interrogation room. She had no intention of being early when there were other things to be done and a few pressing matters she couldn't ignore but she wouldn't be late either because despite the YATI not technically being members of the department yet, the Department Head still valued their time. All time. It was important. "Let's start." She said, eyeing the lot of them up as she settled before them. There was no need for formalities. They all knew who she was and she knew who they were. Even more, they all knew why they were here. Might as well get into what needed to be done. Without offering proper explanation on the training--because out in the field, all the answers weren't placed on your lap with the important sections highlighted--Lex decided to simply launch right into the thick of things. "Each of you, gimme one give away that your witness or suspect is lying and tell me what you'd do in such a situation." Gestures, subtle movements, words. Anything they could remember. While she waited for the answers to pour in, she fished her clipboard from her back pocket. An assessment sheet lay on there--not that they could see it, but deduction wouldn't have led them too far from that conclusion. |
Seeing the first-year YATI entered the room, Ava gave her a small smile and nod. She decided to not initiate or even engage in an ice-breaker conversation because who knew their boss was watching around and evaluating them right when they entered this room. Do she needed to be always prepared and vigilant whenever wherever possible. They didn't need to wait for a long time until Alexa Cambridge entered the room and being straight to the point like she always did. So this training would be about interrogation, no wonder why it was held here instead of their regular training room. Ava raised her hand and spoke up to answer the department head's question "Facial expression." She answered. And what would she do in that situation? "I will watch the witness' expression and notice if there is an unnecessary facial movement such as pupil dilating or a lip twitch, or ask them an unexpected question." |
Thankfully, his spell had turned up nothing, not that he was expecting it to. He was well and truly the first one here. He wasn't that way for long though, as he was shortly joined by Ava and Emilia in quick succession. "Hey," Ronan greeted each with a smile. But that was all, since pretty soon they were joined by the department head herself, who started the training session. "If someone clears their throat or shallows before answering, they're probably lying." Since being questioned about whatever they did would cause a rise in anxiety, which would cause dryness in the throat. "Or if they bite or lick their lips." As for what he'd do... "I would get them to tell me the truth by keeping calm, acting empathic to their plight, seeming engaged in what they are saying and most importantly, playing all of this off as sincere by lowering my voice slightly and slowing my speech. Help them rationalize their actions by reminding them that everyone makes mistakes. Downplay the seriousness of the situation and tell them I see this type of thing all the time. Assure them that there's plenty of blame to go around and spread the blame wherever I can convincingly do so. Use implicit language so that the person buys into what I'm saying. For example, tell them that I want to work to get the matter resolved. I wouldn't be judgemental." Which was actually a good general rule for life, but that was a digression. "And most importantly, I wouldn't allow the person to voice a lie or denial, since that would allow them to get more psychologically entrenched in said lie or denial and less likely to tell me the truth." He'd actually studied this part of the training guide about a thousand times, so he was pretty sure he'd nailed it. |
Emilia stood up straighter when their department head entered the room, a nervous sort of excitement filling her. She didn't care how long this took or how difficult it was, she was ready. The others offered good answers, Ronan Carter's sounding like something right out of the text she'd been studying. It didn't leave much room for mistakes and though she felt some pressure to impress the older woman, she was more focused on putting herself into the scenario in her mind and answering honestly. "Anxious people tend to fuss with things around them and telling a bold face lie to an authority figure is anxiety inducing stuff. Hyper focusing on adjusting glasses, sleeves, hair while answering questions could be an indication the person was lying. I'd pretend not to notice, keep the dialogue going, be careful with the terms I'm using so what I was saying didn't come off as accusational. My aim would be to get answers, it's someone else's to decide how to proceed with the consequences. I wouldn't pretend otherwise." |
Lex nodded along silently as each offered up a response. While they spoke, the Department head made a tick here and there and scribbled on a few notes on each assessment sheet. Some answers gave more information than others but she did spare a glance up at Burton. "After catching the lie, what do you plan to do about it?" She hadn't answered that part. Knowing someone was lying was only half the work here. Next, her gaze fell to Espinosa. "What will you do once you've collected all the lies? They won't benefit the investigation in any way." Ignoring the fact there's a lie and allowing the person to keep telling the lies was only wasting time. "Keeping a dialogue of lies going is as bad as them not saying anything at all, worse in some cases." Namely if they couldn't differentiate which parts were the truth--if there was truth. Getting answers that weren't the truth was a no. For now, she had no questions for Carter, just a nod after he'd been done speaking. Someone had swallowed their textbook with their morning breakfast. Didn't bother her as long as he knew his stuff. "You bring a couple in for questioning, they refuse to talk to you without each other and threaten to lawyer up if they're separated but are willing to talk if they have each other. What do you do?" |
Emilia was quiet, attentive, watching their department head carefully. She could tell she'd missed the mark and she went over what she'd said in her head, trying to figure out where. "I wasn't clear in my answer," She admitted after a moment of reflection. "The fidgeting, the self grooming, those are tells. Those are ways to identify lying. Once you've seen those, you know you're not getting to hear the real story." That was the first part she'd wanted them to answer, yes? "While I would continue a dialogue with the person, it wouldn't be to allow the lie to continue. It would be to give them a chance to start over while feeling heard and understood. I understand this must be hard for you. I've seen these situations countless times and we can work through them, but we'll need to start from the beginning and revisit what really happened... Things like that. Once a person feels like they're talking to someone similar to them, they usually open up more." She clasped her hands and fell quiet, realizing rambling wouldn't help bring her point home. The next question was considered as the brunette looked around the room, imagining the scenario as if it were happening right in front of her. "If they're not unequivocally evoking their right to counsel, I'd bring them in. Make sure to caution them before questioning them. They could've coordinated stories beforehand, but if a story seems too consistent, every detail agreed upon, it's certainly something that would raise my suspicions. I'd try to throw unexpected questions in the mix, watch their eye contact, see if they're hesitating before offering their point of view on things. They could be each other's undoing. It's normal for people to witness the same event a little differently, everyone having a different perspective, so in the case that they're telling the truth, there may be some chatting between them to try and piece together an accurate account of what happened, which will help you in the long run." She drummed her fingers against her leg. "I think allowing them to lawyer up just gives them more time to come up with a solid story that'll help potentially guilty suspects get off." |
Yes, she knew she hadn't finished her answer yet because she hadn't said what she would do if the suspect was caught lying. This was quite difficult to answer honestly but at least Ava was going to try giving her best answer. "If I knew the suspect or witness lying, I will persuade them to tell the truth in a possibly calm situation, not going to confronting or force them to tell the truth." No, that wouldn't work and it's just going to scare them. "And sometimes twisting their words could work too. If they're getting too difficult to cooperate and we were running out of option, using truth serum is possible." As for the next question... Merlin, this was quite tricky. Ava stopped for a while to think about the answer. "Questioning them together. I agree with what Emilia had said, allowing them to use a lawyer would give them more time to cook up the story. But keep an eye of them and pay attention if they both are telling the truth or not." Exhales. She still need to learn more about this. Once the 21 year-old had finished her answer, she kept herself quite and paid attention to others. |
Phew, it seemed that he had, in fact, nailed the first question. "Let them call their lawyer." Everyone knows that's the first thing you do when accused of a crime. Besides, they did have a right to one and Ronan didn't want to be the one accused of denying someone their rights. "Under no circumstances do you question two people together, as it would be harder to get the truth out of the people being questioned." Due to the process used in said questioning and all that. |
Again, she nodded along to their offered answers, leaving the occasional scribble or note. The impassive look on her face made it difficult if not impossible to tell her opinion on each response. "Veritaserum is inadmissable in court." Lex countered, going down another item on the list and placing a tick there before adding a small scribbled note. "It's a subjective measure of garnering the truth as the speaker is compelled to tell only what they believe to be the truth. Altered memories are one easy way to get around it." Something she hoped the YATI would keep in mind in future. Lex didn't want to deal with cases being tossed out due to lack of sufficient evidence. That simply wouldn't do. "You're both not wrong in saying a lawyer will give them more time to concoct a story together, however," Because there was a "but" here, "Espinosa, your tactics would work better with Carter's response. Avoid interviewing suspects together or you may find yourself with a witness overpowering the other in non-phsyical manner. Little gestures. Certain phrases. One doing all the talking and you can't force the other to speak--not legally. If they want a lawyer, tell them they have all right to one, but keep them separate until that lawyer arrives. Don't give them that time to go creating stories together. It's a slippery slope when lawyers get involved. Even threats of them should be taken seriously." More scribbling, more ticking. "I understand the drive to get answers, especially while everything is still fresh. Of course, you can interview them together, but then what do you do when you realize stories don't add up and they still refuse to talk to you on their own? What do you do when one silences the other and they keep a tight lipped story even after you've been so accommodating?" Something else to think about. Alexa lowered the clipboard and looked to each of them. "I've got mock interviews for you to conduct. No two are the same. Here's all the information you'll be getting and the room you should report to to begin these interviews. The interviews will begin in half an hour from this point. Gives you time to gather any necessities you think you might need--but only if you think you'll need anything. You could show up empty handed too if you think that's the right approach." She'd be the final judge of things. With that, Lex handed each of them a piece of folded parchment with their name on it. SPOILER!!: Carter SPOILER!!: Burton SPOILER!!: Espinosa "Keep in mind, not all of these will actually be guilty. You'll have to determine this. For now, they're simply suspects. Half an hour starts now." Soooo interviews! Yay! Fun! You can go ahead and post your YATI as if they've moved to the rooms etc etc etc. I'll be posting the announcer with their interviewees. |
Truth serum is not allowed by the court. Okay, she needed to remind herself about that. There were so much useful information that made the 21 year-old decided to grab her muggle pen and small notebook from her pocket and scribbled some important points from all these talking. Now it's the practice time, goodness. Hopefully this wouldn't be too difficult for her. Putting her notebook back in her pocket, Ava then took the parchment that had been handed in. An 8 year-old suspect? Ah, this was quite tricky. Part of her already thought that there would be no way a little child could kidnap her own friend but... Let's see. She walked to interrogation room with the information that she had gotten and hopefully she could do this well. |
To say Emilia felt defeated would be an understatement. She hid it well, though, nodding along and internalizing everything Alexa Cambridge was saying. She was a first year, she knew she didn't need to know everything right now, but in this moment she realized just how wildly behind she was and it made her feel...inadequate. It didn't help that now she'd be thrown into a scenario perfectly highlighting just how little experience she had at this type of thing. Taking her card, she looked it over. The guy clearly prided himself on his skills, so that was something she could play off of, maybe. She'd have to feel him out, see how it went. One thing was for sure, she wasn't bringing anything in with her. If her tactic was going to work, he had to think she wasn't expecting to be in there long at all. That talking to him was a waste of her time because he couldn't possibly know anything of use to her. After making a quick stop by the loo to make sure she looked professional, prepared, the brunette made her way to her assigned interview room and slipped inside. |
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The little girl looked to the YATI, standing when she entered. "I want to go home. Mummy said you have questions for me but I already told the other Auror what I saw. I want to leave. NOW." Quote:
"Come to waste both our time, Love? Let me put you out of your misery. I dunno nothin' about the man. I dunno nothin' about whatever else you think you've got. What say you let me out and we can both be on our way?" |
Ronan had to fight the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose at his fellow Auror-in-training's mistake. Why did pretty much every magical person he'd ever met resort to magic for everything from turning the lights on to getting the truth out of someone? Sometimes, the muggle way was just better. Taking the slip of paper he was handed, he read it over. Ah, a black widow. A quite old one, too. After making a quick stop off at the work area, he entered interview room one carrying a file folder filled with a small stack of papers. Most of the pages were blank, but there was no way for his interview subject to know that. What was very obvious, however, was the neatly written label bearing the interviewee's name and the crime in question that had been affixed to the front, which was facing outwards. Ronan moved smoothly to stand across from the subject with a simple, polite "Good afternoon, miss. Would you mind stating your name for me?" He held his hand out for a handshake to underline the politeness of his tone. His goal? To develop a rapport with the woman before starting the |
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“Who are you, dear? Are you here to escort me out? I’ve got funeral arrangements to make. I have the perfect coffin in mind, you see, I just know he’d love it—gold rods, he liked gold. Marble design, you know the one I mean? Oh, he’ll be thrilled...or I suppose he would be if he was here.” Poor Harold. Poor poor Harold. Why did this always happen to her? Betty took her hand back and eased onto the back support of her chair while she looked the young man over. Polite fellow. What was his name again? |
The only external reaction to the woman's words was the slight, subtle cynical raising of an eyebrow. This one was good, he had to admit. He almost believed her for a second as he released her hand from the handshake. But, it did cause a question to come to mind. "Ronan Carter. Have you been read your rights yet, Miss....?" he replied, providing the woman with yet another opportunity to provide her name. He already knew it, of course, thanks to the slip of paper Alexa had handed him, but he wanted to retain the air of politeness by letting the woman introduce herself. He let her further comments go by with only the slight crinkle of his nose at the tackiness of it all. Someone wanted people to know they had money. And yes, he realized the irony of thinking that, but there was a big difference between appreciating convenience and good construction and what she was describing. While he was waiting for her to answer his question, he took a seat in the chair across from her, placing the file in his lap with the name-side facing the ceiling. |
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”My rights?” Is that what that young man had been talking about earlier? It was all a blur to her now. She’d been so distraught. So in PAIN. Harold. Dear sweet dead Harold. Never to try her pot roast again. He always liked her gravy. OH HAROLD. Hang on! Just a minute, sugar!” Betty suddenly enthused. She shuffled through her magically extended bag and pulled out a tray of cookies. “I was baking when the nice gentlemen came in. Would you like to try some? They’re still warm.” And meant for Henry but here she sat in a cold room. Quote:
Waste his time. Waste his time with a child. Was he not worth any of the big heads? “Like I already told you, sugarlips, I dunno nothin’.” That was his story and he was sticking to it. |
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"You don't have to be afraid, Jada. You're going to be okay." She took a seat and faced the young girl. "Now first, Have you been told and understood about... your rights?" Did she understand? "Such as... what you are allowed to." |
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"Can I go home now?" |
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"I've heard you're something of a celebrity where business is concerned, am I right? People can come to you when they need a good deal. That kind of hype is pretty amazing. You must be good at what you do." |
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"I understand that you want to go home so bad, Jada. But I just needed to ask a few more questions before you can go home so we can help to find your friend." With a small smile, the YATI convinced the witness. Hopefully little Jada here could be more cooperative so they could finish this interrogation. She also didn't want to get stuck here for a long time. |
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