PURSUING GANG KILLERS

With all these seemingly insurmountable difficulties, how then do gang murders get solved.  My answer, in one word, is HEAT!  You have to be relentless.  You keep constant pressure on the rival gang, both with uniformed police presence, gang units, and good detective work. You make it difficult for them to conduct their criminal activities. I’ll give you an example.  My partner and I handled a gang murder where an OG (Original Gangster, or older member) had been shot down in front of his house shortly after being paroled.  Besides being out in that neighborhood every day, we arrested over the span of the investigation numerous gang members for guns, narcotics, parole violations and various other felonies and assorted misdemeanors.  We even arrested one individual for an outstanding traffic warrant on Christmas Eve. Like I said, the heat was relentless. You interview every arrestee in an attempt to gain intelligence on the gang and especially to turn them as an informant on your murder case.  You go into the jails every day and interview arrestees who have been arrested in the vicinity of the murder.  You’re looking to develop an informant who can give you the information you need to identify the killers. Believe me, not too many people, no matter how hard core they are, want to spend a lot of time incarcerated in prison if they can give out information that can cut their sentence down.  You just have to be patient and skilled on this approach.

The gang unit’s expertise is invaluable in identifying suspect(s) real names from their gang names and monikers. Eventually when an informant’s information is corroborated or a witness comes forward and the suspect(s) have been identified, you begin to close in on the killers.  Believe it or not, some people still refuse to be intimidated and come forward as witnesses and do the right thing.  The detectives then obtain search and arrest warrants and attempt to obtain additional evidence, like the gun(s) used, clothing worn etc.  Gang members don’t always get rid of guns, and they often pass them around to their fellow gang members.  Once the suspect(s) have been apprehended, the detective’s final effort is to attempt to obtain a confession.  Oftentimes it may come down to the suspect(s) walking on the charges unless the detectives are skilled interrogators and can obtain a confession.

INTERVIEWS/INTERROGATING PAROLEES & EX-CONS

Many police detectives and private investigators think you can’t get any information from parolees and ex-cons.  Going one step further, many think it’s all but impossible to get them to cop out to a crime during an interrogation.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I think in many ways their the easiest to get to give it up.  The other side would argue their case this way.  Why would a guy with a 40 page rap sheet tell you anything?  My response is, if a guy is supposed to be so smart, why does he have a 40 page rap sheet!  We’re not dealing with the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler or some other master criminal.  As to giving up information, they probably respond easier than someone who is new to the criminal justice system.  Whether it’s to show off how much they know, greed, envy, revenge or self protection, you just have to find the psychological key that turns on the spigot.  I’ll give you an example. When I was a police detective, I’d go into the jail at my division everyday and see who got arrested the previous day.  I was always looking to see if anyone got arrested in the area where a major crime had recently happened.  After I cleared it with the detectives handling an individual’s specific case, I’d go in and talk to a number of arrestees to see what they knew and how they could help themselves.  This one time I gave my usual pitch to a hard core ex-con who had already been incarcerated for many years and now was looking at another long stretch.  He respectfully listened to my pitch and then said to me, “No disrespect, Detective, but I ain’t ever been a snitch, and I can do the time standing on my head!”  As a last ditch effort, I told him I respected him for that.  I then asked him if there was someone he didn’t like, maybe someone who was doing his old lady when he was in the joint.  It was like a light bulb went off in his head.  He smiled at me and said he did have somebody like that.  He gave me information on a guy that we were able to act on and make an arrest.  They’ll be times when you strikeout, but if your persistent, and keep your word to them, you’ll start making cases.

INTERROGATION 102

What is the chief skill necessary to be a good interrogator?  First and foremost, you have to have confidence in yourself.  If you have a method that you learned and studied, then go into that interrogation room believing that you’re going to go in there and get a suspect to cop out.  Don’t let the severity of the crime scare you.  What’s the difference between a petty theft and a triple murder when it comes to an interrogation?  Nothing other than the latter has two more pieces of evidence (the murder victims).  Some investigators get spooked if it’s a serious crime, or if it’s taped and/or video recorded.  If you have a good method that you’ve worked on, it doesn’t matter.  The technique is always the same, no matter how minor or how serious the crime.  After I became comfortable with the book method I chose, I didn’t care if they had me doing it on national television with a full crowd in the Los Angeles Coliseum.  One time I had a young detective trainee listen in from another room in the police station while I interviewed a parolee on a case.  After I got him to cop out to the crime, I went and spoke with my trainee about it.  He told me that he had tape recorded it so he could listen to it again and learn from it.  When I advised him that we would have to turn over the tape to the District Attorney’s office and the Suspect’s lawyer, he was embarrassed and apologetic.  I told him not to worry, because the method I used every time I interrogated was well within the guidelines of the US Constitution.  So go in there and get em, tiger!  

HOW TO INTERROGATE 101

The most important thing to learn about interrogation is that you have to have a method.  You can’t just wing it, or worse than that, use the untried and untrue method of interrogation that most police and private investigators use with constant failure.  And what method is that, you may ask.  It’s the same one that the general public has of interrogations, gleaned from years of watching TV cop shows and movies.  Hard to believe, but most cops and PIs use the methods dreamed up by Hollywood screen writers.  This is definitely one time you want to go against perceptions.  When I first started out as a police detective, I was embarrassed because I couldn’t get suspects to cop out to any crimes they committed.  Using my Dad’s axiom that if you don’t know something, someone wrote a book on it, I went down to a legal bookstore and found a book on interrogations.  Even though it went against my perceived knowledge of interrogations (TV & movies again), I studied it, utilized it every time I interrogated someone, and then critiqued myself.  After a while, I was amazed that suspects began coping out to all kinds of crimes.  I got to be really successful at obtaining confessions.  My success at interrogation wasn’t really due to me, however, it was due to the method that I learned and utilized.  Here’s where I’m going with this.  Find a method you like.  Buy the book and attend the author’s seminar when you can.  Study it and believe in it.  Use it every time, whether it’s a petty theft or a triple murder.  Critique yourself every time when you’re finished.  When you get that first cop out, you’ll know it was all worth it.