Weekend Road Trip: Kayaking the Parker River

Kayaking the Parker River

 

Last weekend, Denene and I paddled ten or twelve miles up the Parker River starting near the mouth of the Merrimack. We began the trip at high tide with little or no wind. The river was calm, with a texture almost pudding-like.

By the time we reached halfway we were paddling into 40 – 50 mph wind gusts. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the water temperatures in New England are still quite frigid. The spray felt like ice crystals hitting our faces. The water became so rough I elected to leave the camera in the waterproof container. Besides, if I’d stopped paddling long enough to take a picture I’d have been blown backward, losing what little momentum I had. It was a blast!

The trip started out calmly.

These two were nesting. They allowed me to get fairly close, but the expressed their displeasure quite loudly.

This pair wasn’t as cordial. They took to the air, circling my head until I moved on.

This guy didn’t care how close I got.

Love was definitely in the air.  We saw dozens of “pairs” of horseshoe crabs along the water’s edge.

The wind started to pick up about halfway through the trip, bending these reeds.

We ran into a group of young kids on a guided kayak tour. The instructor/guides began to frantically get the kids to the nearest shore when the wind started pushing waves over the tops of the boats. They all made it out safely. (These photos were taken before the winds struck).

The wind was starting to pick up. This was the last photo I took. Waves began to splash over the bow soon after.

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Police Rumors, Scandals, and Scoops

Wacky Police News

 

– Outside looking in: A distraught man barricaded himself inside a New York sheriff’s office. The building was evacuated after the suspect fired a shot.

– Bite me!: A Connecticut police instructor was arrested on reckless endangerment charges for biting a co-worker. The female employee and the instructor were engaged in horseplay when she said, “Bite me.” So he did.

 

– A rural N.C. police department spent $20,000 for two police dogs, and another $10,000 for training, a sum that drained their budget. Officials had originally hoped to purchase bullet and stab proof vests for the animals, but couldn’t scrape up the additional $1,600. However, local citizens have begun a fund raising campaign to purchase the vests.

– NYPD forensic investigator, Michelle Lee, was stabbed to death in her home. An ex-boyfriend was arrested for Lee’s murder. Forensic evidence left at the scene – evidence normally collected by Lee – was used to learn the identity of the killer.

– A Miami teen escaped from police custody by running away from the arresting officer. The police officer managed to get one cuff on the lad’s wrists before the kid made his break. The boy was charged with stealing the handcuffs.

 

– A jail inmate in St. Mary’s, Florida escaped from jail, stole several packs of cigarettes from a nearby convenience store, and then attempted to break back into jail. He was nabbed during the re-entry, and was later charged with escape and burglary.

– A man in Wingerworth, England was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison for repeatedly whistling the Addams Family theme at his neighbors. Prosecutors say the behavior was absolutely intolerable.

 

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Attention! Authors, Publicists, Agents, Publishers, Editors, and Conference Directors. Want to advertise books or an event on The Graveyard Shift?

 

Contact us and we’ll tell you how!

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Lt. David Swords: Interview and Interrogation – Part Two

Lt. David Swords: Precinct 7-11

 

Lieutenant David Swords (ret.) is a thirty year veteran of the Springfield, Ohio Police Department. Nearly half of Lt. Swords’ police career was spent as an investigator, working on cases ranging from simple vandalisms to armed robberies and murders.

The Interrogation

Body language
One of the primary things an interrogator must do is watch the suspect. A veteran once told me, “You’ll learn more by watching a man’s eyes then by listening to his words.”

Kinesics is the study of body language in communication, including eye movements. One field of study concerning eye movements went so far as to suggest one could determine truthfulness or deception by watching which direction the eyes moved in response to questioning. I’m not sure of the exact information, but examples of what I mean might be looking down and to the left could indicate deception, while looking up and to the right might show thoughtful consideration of the questions. If your story takes place in recent years, you can probably find detailed information on this system.

So you want to be a detective?

In any event, eye contact is crucial during an interrogation and has been known and used by officers probably since Marshall Dillon questioned Black Bart. Think about questioning little children when the cookie jar gets broken. Where are their eyes when you ask what happened? Looking straight at their shoes, of course. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to look someone in the eye and lie to them. Even if the eyes flick away for just a split second, it’s there. The deception. You can see it in the eyes.

The movement of the eyes is not the only thing a detective watches for in an interrogation. All physical mannerisms can betray persons as they are being questioned. You can find these in books or on the Internet, so I won’t go into great detail on each, but I’d like to point out some of the more common movements and what they might mean.

– The arms folded across the chest. Arms across the chest can indicate a closed mind or defiance.

– One I always loved to watch for was an almost imperceptible drop of the shoulders, sometimes accompanied with a sigh. This showed resignation and often indicated the suspect was about to give up his resistance.

 

– Head nodding or shaking. An officer knows he is close when the suspect begins to, very slightly, nod or shake his head in agreement with what the detective is saying. Another sign that you are close to a confession.

– Grooming, or repeating a question. Both are common stalling tactics. By grooming, I mean the suspect will pick at lint or brush something off their shoulder.

And as for repeating, we’ve all heard it and done it. “Where were you last night?” “Where was I last night?” They’re stalling, thinking quickly for an answer, when the real one might put them in jail.

All of the above, and scores of other bits of body language, can mean something. A detective needs to watch closely to know when to “make his move.”

What do I mean by make his move?

There comes a point when a person is close to confessing and needs a little nudge to get him to cross that line. One thing an officer might want to do is slide in closer to the suspect. It invades the man’s personal space. It’s a way to say to the suspect, ‘I’m in your space and in your head, we know the truth, it’s time to say it.’

At this point in time, you’re not asking the suspect what happened, you’re telling him, and you don’t let him disagree. You’re probably also speaking very softly, not yelling or in the guy’s face, so to speak. “You took that TV last night, Bob.” And when he shakes his head no. “Yes you did, we all know you did. You need to tell me about it.”

Notice the detective said “took” and not “steal.” It’s important to try to express the accusation in soft words, not harsh ones. It’s easier to admit “taking” something and not “stealing” it. Once the suspect crosses that magic line and kicks into the crime, you can clear up details.

He didn’t break in, he went in. He didn’t steal, he took. He didn’t rape, he had sex with. It might seem trivial, but the differences can mean success or failure.

An important point to add is the use of accusation to get a response and see if you’re on the right trail. An officer will often make an accusation just to see how the suspect reacts. An innocent person will react with indignation when an outright accusation is made, while the guilty party will still deny it, but with much less vigor.

“You had sex with that with that young girl,” can be answered with eyes dropped to the floor and a rather calm, “No, no, I did not.” Or it may be answered with an emphatic, “I DID NOT!” while the suspect looks straight in your eyes. You can see the difference.

 

Officers may also use an over-accusation to gain information. I once had a detective who worked juvenile tell me of a man he was questioning on an accusation that the man had stopped two schoolgirls and offered them fifty cents to pull up their dresses and show him their underwear. The man denied any wrongdoing until the detective said that he had been told the man had given the girls five dollars each, to which he replied, “I did not, I did not, I only gave ‘em fifty cents.” Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but the officer had his confession.

Street officers can use a form of accusation just to find out a person’s name. An officer who holds a warrant for Joe Smith won’t walk up to someone he believes to be the suspect and ask, “Are you Joe Smith?” Rather, he will ask, “Are you Bill Brown?” When this is denied, he’ll say, “Oh, yes you are, you’re Bill Brown.” What he will often get is an indignant, “I am not, I’m Joe Smith!” And off to jail he goes.

Something else that can work wonders, especially when dealing with a homicide or violent crime, is to bring the victim into the room. Now, I don’t mean you send your partner to the morgue to drag in a corpse. But, you can bring in a personal item that belonged to the suspect, perhaps a piece of bloodstained clothing. Once it’s time to make your move, such an item can serve to bring the victim into the room to point the finger of accusation at the suspect. Hand it to him, allow him to touch it. You can imagine the effect it can have.

The Secret to writing about interrogations

There really is a secret to writing about interrogations and I am now going to reveal it to. Are you ready? Here it is. The secret to writing about interrogations is that there is no secret. Believe me, it is not rocket science. You have most of the tools you need, and that is your own experience in talking with people. All you need to do is close your eyes, imagine the scene, and put words to paper to describe what happens.

Take a tip from Stephen King in his book “On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft.”

“When you step away from the ‘write what you know’ rule, research becomes inevitable, and it can add a lot to your story. Just don’t end up with the tail wagging the dog; remember that you are writing a novel, not a research paper. The story always come first.”

You’re doing research now, by reading this brilliant blog. (Was that a little too obvious?)

You won’t use everything in this blog, just enough to add a little legitimacy to your story.

And remember, it is not always in the details – it’s in the story.

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Lt. David Swords: Interview and Interrogation – Part One

Lt. David Swords: Precinct 7-11

 

Lieutenant David Swords (ret.) is a thirty year veteran of the Springfield, Ohio Police Department. Nearly half of Lt. Swords’ police career was spent as an investigator, working on cases ranging from simple vandalisms to armed robberies and murders.

Interview and Interrogation – Part One

Interview: a meeting during which somebody is asked questions, e.g. by a prospective employer, a journalist, or a researcher

Interrogation: thorough questioning – the act or process of questioning somebody closely, often in an aggressive manner, especially as part of an official investigation or trial
Interviews and interrogations are basically the same thing, that is, talking to someone to gain information. The differences are in their intensity, the cooperation of the subject being questioned and the legal issues involved.

Today I will concentrate primarily on interrogation, but you should remember that many of the techniques are the same. In fact, many interviews by law enforcement have quickly turned into what would be more accurately described as an interrogation.

I won’t discuss the Miranda warning. Last year, I posted a blog about Miranda here at the Graveyard Shift, which I would encourage you to look at if you have questions on that particular subject. So, I won’t get into the Miranda warning much, except to say that police officers DO NOT start reading Miranda to a suspect as soon as they get their hands on him – a little more on that in the blog.

For the novelist, interrogation may often be overlooked as a crucial element of a story, with the occurrence being “thrown in” as necessary for the story, but not critical to the action. Perhaps this is true, but for an investigator, interrogation can be the one last thing that puts the icing on the cake.

Forensics are crucial to a criminal investigation and will often point to a particular individual as being involved in a crime, but to what degree? For example, let’s say a character in your story is walking down the street and hears a gunshot. He or she runs up on the porch of the house from which the shot came, looks in the door and there on the floor is poor old Joe, flat as board and just as dead, with the apparent cause of death, a bullet hole, planted smack in the middle of his forehead. Standing over Joe, with a pistol in her hand, is Jane. Did Jane murder Joe?

Forensics can show through an autopsy that the bullet lodged in his head killed Joe. No surprise there. Tattooing will show that Joe was shot at close range. Fingerprints can put the gun in Jane’s hand. Again, no surprise. But, none of that answers the original question of whether Jane murdered Joe. Did she pick up the gun after Joe shot himself? Did they struggle over the gun? Was this an accidental discharge? These questions can be answered with an interrogation.

The Interrogation Room

Most police departments have a room or several rooms designed specifically for interrogation. Often depending on budget, imagination or tradition, these rooms run the gamut from high-tech fancy to broom closet simple. Many have two way mirrors, more and more are equipped with audio and video systems, and the room size of most is determined by what room was available when someone decided to put in an interrogation room 28 years prior.

However the room is equipped, the most important determination is to keep it simple. The less there is in a room to distract a suspect, the better detectives like it.

In the mid-80’s, I attended an interrogation seminar taught by Dick Arthur of The National Training Center of Polygraph Science. At the time, he advocated a small bare room with two chairs. The suspect’s chair being a straight metal or wooden chair, bolted to the floor, with the front legs sawed off about half an inch. The hard, lopsided chair never allowed for the suspect to be physically comfortable, which would contribute to his emotional discomfort. The chair was bolted to the floor to keep the suspect from being able to move away from his accuser who, at the right moment, may move into his personal space.

I’ve never seen that method used anywhere, except in Mr. Arthur’s description, but I agree with the basic concept. In the matter of interrogation rooms, less is best.

Too much “stuff” in a room can distract a suspect. There should never be a window. It is very hard to get a suspect to admit robbing a bank when he’s watching a mother robin feed her nestlings. Wall clocks should be taken down. If the bad guy needs to know the time, he can ask. (Of course, a classic answer to that query might be, “Time for you to tell us the truth.” Cha-ching.)

There should also be an understanding with all employees, sworn officers and civilians alike, that an interrogation is NEVER interrupted. There is nothing more frustrating than to be in the middle of an interrogation, making progress, and having someone knock on the door or just walk in to say, “Your wife’s on the phone and wants you to get a quart of milk on the way home.” I never actually had that happen, but I have been interrupted. The one exception that might qualify for an interruption is if the building is on fire. Beyond that – never.

I remember a friend of mine telling me that he and another detective were interviewing a homicide suspect and were being observed through a two-way mirror by the detective Captain (who had never been a detective before being assigned that job as a Captain.) It seems the Captain kept having brilliant flashes of inspiration and would tap on the door and then slip a note under the door. The funny part was that after a little while, when the tap came, even the suspect would look at the foot of the door, waiting on the note. The same Captain kept interrupting myself and two other detectives when we were talking with a suspect in a stabbing homicide. Fortunately, at one point, he left us alone long enough to get a confession. I mention this merely to let you know that not everyone respects the sanctity of the interrogation room. Even those who should know better.

As I said earlier, many interrogation rooms are equipped with audio or video equipment. Prosecutors love it when they have a confession on videotape. Of course, there are budget constraints and maybe the detective in your story will have to get his own pocket recorder at Radio Shack, but whatever system is in your interrogation room, it should be as hidden from the suspect as is practical. Why? Remember, less is best.
Perhaps in your novel you could have my errant Captain tap on the door and come in, adjust the camera for a better view on the closed circuit TV in his office, and leave without saying a word. It has probably happened somewhere.

Before an Interview

 

Like a good Boy Scout, a Detective should be prepared for the interrogation. An officer should know as much as he can reasonably find out about the suspect and the case involved, Like looking up the suspect’s record and thoroughly reading through the case and documents relating to it. You would think this was a given, but I’ve known of incidents (personally, I might admit) where a Detective is interrupted by Uniformed Officers bringing in a suspect in a case, and the Detective reluctantly agrees to help them out and jumps into an interview, not knowing as much as he should. It’s a little frustrating when the suspect knows more about the case than you do.

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James O’Neal (Born): The Future of Police Work

James O'Neal

James O. Born is an award winning novelist with five crime novel published by Putnam. Under the name James O’Neal, he is published by Tor. The Human Disguise was just released and the sequel, The Double Human, will be released in 2010. He is currently a Special Agent with The Florida Department of Law Enforcement working in the area of major crimes and public corruption.

Visit his website at WWW.Jamesonealbooks.com

The Future of Police Work

The one quality most good cops share is adaptability. Many are smart. Many are tough. Some are smart and tough. But if a cop is adaptable then an officer can do a lot of good.

This adaptability must be short term as well as long term. If a cop is undercover, talking to someone about a potential hit and the bad guy suggests they go shoot the target that minute, the cop must adapt for safety and to salvage the case. If the cop shuts it down immediately then there may not be enough for a prosecution (I know it probably would be in this example but you never know). If the cop agrees to take it a little further, then the victim’s or the cop’s life might be in danger. Every undercover situation is a chess match of safety versus evidence. The key is being able to adapt. If all police operations went perfectly then there would be no reason to spend so much time planning and there would be almost no good stories. The interesting things come from what goes wrong, not what goes right. That’s goes for life in general.

Adapting to the long-term changes is another vital ability necessary for a successful career. Procedures evolve, tactics and equipment improve. From my own experience, when I graduated from the DEA academy in the mid-eighties (gulp), I was issued a Smith and Wesson model 13 revolver. A dependable, venerable weapon not much changed from the early part of the twentieth century. After a short while I was using a Beretta 92 nine millimeter, semi-automatic with fifteen rounds.

A couple of years ago my agency required us to move to the Glock .40 caliber. I resisted, having grown used to and comfortable with my Beretta. Any cop or military person will tell you their feeling for a weapon. I didn’t want to experience the separation anxiety. The Beretta had saved my life. Literally. But I was forced to adapt and now carry the sleek, hammerless Glock.

The other form of change that requires a cop to adapt has nothing to do with attitude or equipment. It slays tough and smart alike. It lays waste to morale, thins out the ranks and occasionally pushes someone until they snap. This is the governmental and administrative change that usually seep into the culture but sometimes flop on us like a Walrus with vertigo.

The best example I can think of right now is the tax crisis here in Florida. In South Florida, smaller cities can no longer afford to field their own police departments and have been contracting out the work to the Sheriff’s Offices. The state is flat broke. If it were a relative I would avoid it. Funding has been slashed in every area. And now cops must adapt again. Resources and manpower are scarce. Overtime is non-existent. But somehow criminals continue to go to jail and the lid has been kept on a pressure cooker of unemployment, disillusionment and anger directed at any target available. Cops adapt to cooperate better between agencies, use what resources they have more efficiently and focus on the few creeps who are really causing the problems.

Time marches on for all of us and so does change.

I used my experience as a cop. My love of history and status as a native Floridian to create a novel about police work set twenty years in the future. To keep from confusing anyone who had read one of my contemporary police novels, I used the pen name ( I have a hard time spelling pseudonym) of James O’Neal. The Human Disguise, just released from TOR, follows detective Tom Wilner, a detective for Florida’s Unified Police Force, the only remaining police agency in the state, as he deals with a simmering gang war. I put a lot of effort into looking at police work when I started twenty years ago and how it had changed from police work in the late 1960s, then tried to draw a realistic, reasonable line to how things might work twenty years from now.

I wrote the book over two years ago but theorized that the state’s tax structure would one day fail. I had no idea it would be so fast. In the future the population in Florida has dwindled due to factors like terror attacks, pandemics and a severe climate change. That leaves few cops over wide areas. The first issue would be manpower. That could mean conflicts of interest are a fantasy and cops have to work whatever comes down the pike.

Weapons would evolve and use propellants other than gunpowder and calibers unknown today. Fuel of cars has changed to hydrogen with poor areas using steam or whatever they can find to power crumbling Hondas and pick up trucks.

The last piece of this future puzzle would be the judicial system. Any one involved with it today knows that it cannot continue as it is for very much longer. In The Human Disguise the future justice system sentences offenders to penal units in the military. Sentences can be for conflicts (Syria until it’s conclusion) or time. The need for combatants in all the conflicts the US is fighting is so great virtually no suspect is found guilty. That gives cops too much power.

The civil court system has been completely revised to each side being allowed a short period to present a case to a single judge who can rule immediately causing the loser to pay all costs. That has lightened the burden on small businesses constantly under siege by slip and fall attorneys. But it has also insulated large corporations that can afford to pay if they lose and hurt poor individuals without much money to risk in a loss.

All these factors would cause a police agency and a cop to adapt. I know it caused this cop turned novelist to adapt. I look at everything now with an eye toward what it might look like in twenty years. If my last twenty years are any indication, look for a very heavy set, near sighted novelist signing science fiction books at a Barnes and Borders near you around 2029.

James O, Born, the cop:


James O. Born, the author:

Jim Born, the book critic:

Jim Born’s latest book, The Human Disguise is scheduled for release today!

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Memorial Day: Please Remember Why

Memorial Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Weekend Road Trip: New Zealand With Alix Lambert

New Zealand with Alix Lambert

 

These images were all taken in New Zealand, where I spent a month with Chris, Keith, and Dan Malloy. They surfed. I made a short film and took photographs.

Alix Lambert is an artist, writer, producer, and director. Her work has been featured on PBS, HBO, Nightline, and GQ Magazine. Her art has been showcased in The Venice Biennale, The Museum of Modern Art, The Georges Pompidou Center, and the Kwangju Biennnale. She is currently Executive Producer for an hour-long segment on criminal tattoos that will air on The History Channel.

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Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen

Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

Sergeant Dulan Earl Murray, Jr., 48

Nags Head North Carolina Police Department

Sergeant Dulan Earl Murray, Jr was killed in an automobile accident on May 15, 2009. He was responding to burglary-in-progress call when he lost control of his patrol car on a rain-slickened highway. Sergeant Murray leaves behind his wife and two daughters.

Deputy Sheriff Tom Wilson, 39

Warren County Mississippi Sheriff’s Department

Deputy Sheriff Tom Wilson was killed in an automobile accident on May 17, 2009. He was responding to a call when he lost control of his patrol car. Deputy Wilson leaves behind his wife, son, and stepson.

Trooper Kyle P. Barber, 46

North Caroline Highway Patrol

In January 2007, Trooper Kyle Barber was struck by a vehicle during a traffic stop. On May 19, 2009, he succumbed to complications received in the earlier accident. Trooper Barber is survived by his wife and three children.

Conservation Officer Nathan Mims, 30

Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Officer Nathan Mims suffered a fatal heart attack after performing extremely strenuous activities during an undercover operation. Officer Mims is survived by his wife and two children.

*Thanks to ODMP

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– Today, on Terry Odell’s blog, Detective Mark Hussey offers his real-life memories of Fallen Brothers and Sisters.

– Please take a moment to watch the video.

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Alix Lambert: The Criminal Mind

Alix Lambert: The Criminal Mind

 

Alix Lambert’s feature length documentary “The Mark of Cain” was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and aired on Nightline. She went on to produce additional segments of Nightline as well as produce 7 segments for the PBS series LIFE 360. Lambert has written for a number of magazines including Stop Smiling, ArtForum, The LA Weekly, and GQ, among others, and is an editor at large for the literary journal OPEN CITY. She wrote Episode 6, season 3 of Deadwood: “A Rich Find” and was a staff writer and associate producer on John From Cinicinnati.

As an artist Lambert has exhibited her work to international critical acclaim, showing in The Venice Biennale, The Museum of Modern Art, The Georges Pompidou Center, and the Kwangju Biennnale, to name a few. Her monograph: MASTERING THE MELON is available through D.A.P. Her book THE SILENCING is available through Perceval Press. Her book RUSSIAN PRISON TATTOOS is available through Schiffer Publishing, and her book CRIME is available through Fuel Publishing. She is currently Executive Producer for an hour-long segment on criminal tattoos that will air on The History Channel.”The Criminal Mind”

The Criminal Mind

I was recently asked the question: Why are you interested in the criminal mind? I found myself flummoxed (…ok, maybe I just want to use the word “flummoxed” here). Upon reflection, I don’t know that I am interested in the criminal mind per se. I am definitely interested in the human mind – and in what all too often gets referred to as “The Human Condition.”

When I was interviewing people for my book CRIME, which explores the intersection between art and crime by juxtaposing interviews with people in the real world of crime – criminals, members of law enforcement, victims, lawyers, etc., with artists who represent crime in their films, acting, writing, music, etc. – I usually started by asking: What is your first memory of crime? I am interested in how we form our ideas about criminal behavior. I think I was starting to scratch at the desire to find a thread through someone’s (mine, yours, anyone’s) life that leads us to where we are today. Just defining Crime at all is an immeasurable task. Are we talking about simply the breaking of a law? Well, there are absurd laws that still exist to this day. In Illinois it is illegal to speak English. The officially recognized language of Illinois is “American.” In Ocean City there still exists a law that says that pinball machines are not to be played on a Sunday.

“Crime” runs the gamut from small and amusing: when I complimented my Aunt on her matching, silver salt and pepper shakers she announced with some measure of pride that she had stolen them at the wedding reception of a friend – to large scale and unfathomable: US government endorsed torture that we are being faced with increasing evidence of daily.

My own first memory of crime was when I was maybe seven or eight. I had a babysitter, Sue, who had taken care of me since I was two years old. She was pretty tough. She let me and my sisters ride on the back of her motorcycle and she’d put us in the back of her pick up truck to take us to the drive-in movies or to the Demolition Derby. One night Sue was strangled at the deli where she worked. She had been on the late shift and fallen asleep in one of the booths. A young man broke in to rob the place and she surprised him. He strangled her until she fell unconscious. When she came around and saw herself in the mirror she threw up. All the blood vessels in her eyes had burst, turning the whites of her eyes solid red. She bit all the way through her tongue and there were bruises on her neck in the shapes of hands. But what had a bigger effect on me was that she was afraid, afraid to go outside, afraid to hang out in our tree house. I interviewed her for CRIME.

I moved to New York immediately after high school to go to art school. Much of the art I was making dealt with how people communicate non-verbally. A friend gave me a magazine article about the system of tattooing in the Russian prisons. The tattoos establish rank and function as a complex visual language, which allows the prisoners to communicate with each other. I was fascinated and wanted to make a documentary on the subject. Eventually I was able to visit and film inside of eight prisons in Russia and to complete my film: The Mark Of Cain.


A number of interviews with inmates I met in Russia needed to be shortened or cut completely, in order to shape a film out of the 53 hours of footage I had.

I started looking for an opportunity to publish some of these interviews. Nightline devoted an episode to my documentary and soon after that I got a call from the FBI asking if I would screen the film at their convention on Russian Organized Crime. I agreed and went to Sacramento where the conference was being held. There I met an undercover cop who was game to be interviewed. He also agreed to be photographed (along with his family).

I continued to collect and squirrel away interviews and photographs with the idea of publishing them some day. I met Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell by way of our shared interest in Russian prison tattoos. They had published 2 (now 3) editions of Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedias. We began talking about publishing a book together, and started to pull focus on what ultimately became: CRIME.

For CRIME I interviewed a wide variety of people, from Ice-T (who explains any number of different ways to rob a jewelry store) to Chief Bratton (the only person ever to serve both as Chief of Police in Los Angeles and as Police Commissioner in New York), to Elmore Leonard (who has written over forty crime novels, several of which have been turned into films), to Takeshi Kitano (who was once abducted by the Yakuza) and on.

Through a mutual friend I met Joe Loya. Joe robbed over thirty banks and sat 8 years in prison. While in prison he began to write. After getting out, he published his memoir: The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell. My interview with Joe became chapter one of my book. We spent a day together going to 5 of the banks that he robbed and I photographed him coming out. One of the banks had been turned into a tamale shop. I took the picture anyway.

I flew to Tokyo to meet with Takeshi Kitano. I photographed him in a stunning, traditional Japanese restaurant. The women who worked there got dressed up in anticipation of his arrival.

I met Patty Jenkins (director of the film Monster, which depicts the Aileen Wournos case) at a restaurant near where I used to live in Los Angeles. I decided to try to use an old photography light that had belonged to my grandfather. It had a warning on it – GETS VERY HOT! I placed it on the table and raised my camera to look through the lens. It was only seconds before smoke started to come off the table, I lifted the light and there was a big burn mark where it had been resting on the wood. We left quickly and quietly.

People’s stories poured out of them. They were alternately, funny, heartbreaking, angry, resigned, defensive, gentle, proud, embarrassed and brave. They were all fundamentally human. So, what is crime? And why is it so compelling to so many of us? I have more questions now than ever. I will say this though: a Sunday afternoon game of pinball in Ocean City sounds pretty good right about now.

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Christa M. Miller: Getting Evidence… From Cell Phone Towers?

Christa M. Miller

 

Christa M. Miller is a Maine-based freelance writer specializing in public safety topics. Digital forensics is one of her particular areas of interest; this article was the result of a collaboration with one of her regular sources, Kipp Loving of the Sacramento Valley (California) Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. The original article is available at Officer.com/Law Enforcement Technology; Christa can be reached at christammiller@gmail.com.

Getting Evidence… from Cell Phone Towers?

On a cell phone, SMS (text) messages, phone books, images, and call logs establish alibis or guilt, a suspect’s known associates, and other key pieces of a criminal investigation.

However, investigators can’t rely only on device data for a variety of reasons. First, they may not have the device in hand, or it may be damaged. As long as they have its phone number, however, they can contact the service provider that maintains it to get at least some evidence.

Including more extensive call logs, undelivered messages, and tower data, such evidence can show a cell phone user’s location at the time of an incident. It can be matched with the information saved to the device, and/or mapped together with street names and landmarks.

Service providers’ “tower” data
Most cell towers consist of poles that send and receive signals in three sectors: alpha (north-facing), beta (southeast), and gamma (southwest). This configuration makes it easier for carriers to improve service by covering an entire hexagonal “cell” within the network. It also enables them to identify which sector of the antenna-which side of the tower-communicated with a mobile device.

Cell tower

Carriers keep detailed call records of these communications for billing purposes, so the data includes date and time stamps; call length; whether a call was inbound, outbound, or went to voicemail; the incoming or dialed phone number; and the tower number, its location, and which antenna the call communicated with, along with the towers from which both originating and terminating signals were sent.

Tower data can sometimes reveal whether the device was in motion or stationary. A person dialing from one location will hit the same side of the same tower, but a person on the go will hit different towers and different sides. A long call may make it difficult to tell where a subject went between two towers, but short calls paint a clearer picture of a travel path. Such a path can be easily visualized on a map, which should include all the towers in the area-not just the ones the phone accessed-to show relativity, along with primary locations noted in the case file.

Tower data in criminal investigations
Tower data can be used to place a phone within a geographical location at a specific time, identify call patterns, establish timelines, corroborate statements, and identify co-conspirators. Investigators do not have to wait until they have made an arrest to use this type of information. If they have a suspect that they believe is involved in criminal activity and would like to know where he was one week ago (for instance, was he at the scene of a robbery, homicide, drive-by shooting, or just simply in the area), they can contact the carrier to obtain that information without needing any contact with the suspect. All that is necessary is, again, the suspect’s cell phone number. This makes tower data useful for intelligence gathering among anti-gang, narcotic, counterterrorism, and similar units.

It’s also important to remember that everyone has a typical call pattern: whom they call, how often, from what location(s), and at what times of day or week. When crimes occur, the people involved will step outside of their normal call patterns. Tower data can help establish previous patterns. If, for example, an individual kills his next-door neighbor, the cell phones won’t necessarily be the homicide team’s priority. However, if a homicide occurs in Stockton but the suspect lives in Fresno, the team should be looking at the carrier data very quickly to establish call patterns in the days leading up to and the day of the incident.

Broken pattern

Challenges in obtaining carrier data
Collectible data doesn’t go by tower. Instead, it goes by carrier. Each carrier maintains each set of information for different periods of time. Furthermore, customer privacy remains important. To better balance consumer and law enforcement needs, most carriers have assigned a department to process law enforcement requests and answer their questions, along with assuring legal compliance on all sides.

Another challenge is that tower data still tells only part of the story. The only way to positively identify a user is through personal statement, direct observation, or audio identification-to tie the individual to the phone that was tied to the scene. This was the case following the February 2006 murder of a California peace officer. It wasn’t enough that the officer was found clutching the suspect’s vehicle registration, or that tower data showed calls being made along the suspect’s escape route. The suspect had even erased all inbound and outbound call logs. Instead, investigators made their case by tying the suspect’s detailed calendar and phonebook to the tower data. This supplemented physical evidence: gunshot residue found on the phone itself.

Training is another important component. When seizing a cell phone during an arrest, the officer must also immediately ensure that its data remain intact. An arrestee can use his one in-custody phone call to contact an associate, who can log on to the carrier’s website and remotely delete information. If the phone is on, or turned on during an investigation, the data will be deleted as soon as the phone connects to the network.
Some investigators prefer to use a “Faraday cage,” a signal disruption device that allows them to turn on the phone without it connecting to the network. An alternative is to turn on the seized phone’s “flight mode” feature, which enables the device’s full functionality without a network connection.

Portable Faraday Cage

 

Homemade Faradaty Cage blocks radio signals.

 

Legal issues
Many states make it possible for officers to search a subject’s cell phone incident to arrest; some require a search warrant. To obtain carrier data, however, investigators almost always need a court order.

Because looking at records is not considered as intrusive as kicking down a door, suspicious activity alone is enough. For instance, if the license plate of a car seen near a burglary comes back to a parolee, that’s enough to obtain a court order for his or her cell phone records. A search warrant also works if a subject needs to be located in real time. It’s possible to have the carrier ping the phone and receive feedback.

Various challenges can lead investigators to think they’ll have a hard time getting a warrant. But the trick isn’t obtaining the warrant; it’s doing so quickly enough. The best way to accomplish this is a preservation letter. Under U.S. Code Title 18 § 2703 (f), investigators can fax a written request to the carrier to preserve all data for a target phone number. The carrier must then hold the data for 90 days, and if requested, renew for 90 more days if the agency requires it. Often this allows investigators enough time to obtain a warrant.

Sometimes exigent circumstances come into play. Although an amendment in the Patriot Act allows providers to give information to law enforcement in the event of an “emergency involving the risk of imminent death or serious physical injury,” most states-including California-continue to preserve citizens’ privacy. Judicial approval is necessary, which means the department must submit a request on letterhead. In most cases, carriers will comply. In others they require warrants, but will supply information in an emergency as long as the request is later backed up.

Some seemingly exigent circumstances still are not enough for forensic examinations of phones or other electronics. This is especially true of suicides. Even when the subject has a chance to be saved, the individual’s privacy overrules.

Read more from Christa M. Miller here.

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