Police and Security Science 3
JIM GROOM NOTES
Sources of human information
The truth finding mission- most false convictions are made because of false witness statements
Facial Identification
Hard to describe a person’s features in words, but it is very easy to identify someone.
Misattribution- you think someone assaults you, but it is actually a guy who lives in your apartment building and did not do it. You just miss inform yourself of what actually went down
Change Blindness- cognitive attention and instinctive attention- Cognitive- making effort to focus or watch a particular aspect Instinctive attention- things like sitting in a crowd, and you hear your name, and you are all of a sudden paying attention, phone rings with same ring tone as yours, etc
Course objectives * Victims * Complainant * Witnesses * Suspects * Accused
Victims
Empirical vs. Anecdotal
Demonstrated Based on incidents experience
Scientifically thorough
Experimentation
Very important when attempting to detect deception
Greater importance on physical evidence * Reliability- irrefutable * We get fewer confessions (Charter of Rights and Freedoms changes) * We have newer scientific advances- amazing things are found through science
Limitations of Physical Evidence
Perception- Perspective and interpretation- young woman versus an old woman
Challenges of effective investigations: * Obtain accurate recollections * Assess the credibility of the information * Develop skills to obtain information from those reluctant to provide it
Can be from the witness, the perpetrator or a victim
A person against whom a crime has been committed
OR
A person who is affected: * Physically * Emotionally * Psychologically *
By an occurrence * Financial loss, etc.
Victims
Primary and secondary
Primary- directly affected
Secondary- indirectly affected
Types of Victimization * Crimes of violence * Property
Sources of human information
The truth finding mission- most false convictions are made because of false witness statements
Facial Identification
Hard to describe a person’s features in words, but it is very easy to identify someone.
Misattribution- you think someone assaults you, but it is actually a guy who lives in your apartment building and did not do it. You just miss inform yourself of what actually went down
Change Blindness- cognitive attention and instinctive attention- Cognitive- making effort to focus or watch a particular aspect Instinctive attention- things like sitting in a crowd, and you hear your name, and you are all of a sudden paying attention, phone rings with same ring tone as yours, etc
Course objectives * Victims * Complainant * Witnesses * Suspects * Accused
Victims
Empirical vs. Anecdotal
Demonstrated Based on incidents experience
Scientifically thorough
Experimentation
Very important when attempting to detect deception
Greater importance on physical evidence * Reliability- irrefutable * We get fewer confessions (Charter of Rights and Freedoms changes) * We have newer scientific advances- amazing things are found through science
Limitations of Physical Evidence
Perception- Perspective and interpretation- young woman versus an old woman
Challenges of effective investigations: * Obtain accurate recollections * Assess the credibility of the information * Develop skills to obtain information from those reluctant to provide it
Can be from the witness, the perpetrator or a victim
A person against whom a crime has been committed
OR
A person who is affected: * Physically * Emotionally * Psychologically *
By an occurrence * Financial loss, etc.
Victims
Primary and secondary
Primary- directly affected
Secondary- indirectly affected
Types of Victimization * Crimes of violence * Property