Gardai Failing to Pursue Scammers

https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/insurers-claim-garda-failing-to-pursue-scammers-37318798.html

Mr Kevin Thompson of Insurance Ireland reports that its members handed over 167 files on fraudulent cases to the Gardai in 2016 for prosecution.  Claiming that the cases were “resting” with Gardai, with no indication if prosecutions have, or will be taken, he expressed his frustration at the “dysfunctionality of our personal injuries and legal framework in assessing these claims and bringing prosecutions”.

Peter Boland, of the Alliance for Insurance Reform, said businesses are besieged by fraudulent claims. The insurance industry in Ireland suffers a €20 million loss due to fraud each year.

There are numerous reasons why Gardai do not bring prosecutions and, similar to the DPP, they are unlikely to reveal these reasons.

When in-house investigations can lead to criminal sanctions it is important that the early steps in the investigation are conducted to a minimum standard. As with all investigations into potential wrongdoing, actions taken during the ‘golden hour’ (the period immediately following the incident) are crucial to successful outcomes. After this, the opportunities for identifying information and material evidence diminish significantly. The first chance to gather information and evidence about the incident may be the last. In addition, identification and collection of evidence requires rigorous quality assurance measures if it is to withstand the test of criminal or civil processes. It may never be identified or harvested; it may become contaminated or comprised from the outset. Awareness is required of these issues in every step of the process: from the employee in a business to whom the incident is first reported, through to the manager to whom they report, all the way to the report being passed to a professional investigator and onwards for civil or criminal determination.

In this context it is important that the insurance industry is doing everything possible to ensure that their Zero Tolerance policy is supported by robust mechanisms.

It is imperative that employees in small and medium enterprises are aware of the risks and measures. It is also imperative that investigators within the insurance industry have the capacity to identify, gather and manage evidence and conduct standardised, consistent investigations that will not compromise the integrity of a potential criminal prosecution.

Investigators need training in investigative principles and recent best practice thus ensuring a common practice and approach across the industry that is aligned to the standards and practices recognised and accepted within the Criminal Justice System.

A culture is required where criminal justice institutions and non criminal justice fact finders have mutual respect for each other and a collaborative approach to enhancing the quality of the criminal process. This is only possible with an awareness of minimum common standards, transfer of knowledge and capacity development.

Many in-house investigations will be initiated before criminal activity is suspected and, in some cases, will be alternative to criminal investigations. A clearly defined investigative process is at the heart of any compliance programme. In addition, an increased awareness of the investigation process and principles will enhance the in-house capacity of insurance companies to conduct investigations that confirm or repudiate claims and enable more robust defence of civil claims.  This requires a commitment to awareness, skill-based training and standard operating procedures.

Why Tough Tactics Fail and Rapport Gets Results: Observing Rapport-Based Interpersonal Techniques (ORBIT) to generate useful information from terrorists

By Alison, Laurence J., Alison, Emily, Noone, Geraldine, Elntib, Stamatis, Christiansen, Paul

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol 19(4), Nov 2013, 411-431

Abstract

This field observation examines 58 police interrogators’ rapport-based behaviours with terrorist suspects; specifically, whether rapport helps elicit meaningful intelligence and information. The Observing Rapport-Based Interpersonal Techniques (ORBIT; Alison, Alison, Elntib & Noone, 2012) is a coding framework with 3 elements. The first 2 measures are as follows: (i) 5 strategies adopted from the motivational interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2009) literature in the counselling domain: autonomy, acceptance, adaptation, empathy, and evocation and (ii) an “Interpersonal Behaviour Circle” (adopted from Interpersonal theories, Leary, 1957) for coding interpersonal interactions between interrogator and suspect along 2 orthogonal dimensions (authoritative-passive and challenging-cooperative); where each quadrant has an interpersonally adaptive and maladaptive variant. The third (outcome) measure of ORBIT includes a measure of evidentially useful information (the “interview yield”) and considers the extent to which suspects reveal information pertaining to capability, opportunity and motive as well as evidence relevant to people, actions, locations and times. Data included 418 video interviews (representing 288 hours of footage), with all suspects subsequently convicted for a variety of terrorist offences. Structural equation modeling revealed that motivational interviewing was positively associated with adaptive interpersonal behaviour from the suspect, which, in turn, increased interview yield. Conversely, even minimal expression of maladaptive interpersonal interrogator behaviour increased maladaptive interviewee behaviour as well as directly reducing yield. The study provides the first well-defined and empirically validated analysis of the benefits of a rapport-based, interpersonally skilled approach to interviewing terrorists in an operational field setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Investigating Terrorism. Current Political, Legal and Psychological Issues

https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Investigating+Terrorism%3A+Current+Political%2C+Legal+and+Psychological+Issues-p-9781119994169

The Efficacy of Rapport-Based Techniques for Minimising Counter-Interrogation Tactics Amongst a Field Sample of Terrorists.

By Alison, Laurence,Alison, Emily,Noone, Geraldine,Elntib, Stamatis,Waring, Sara,Christiansen, Paul

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol 20(4), Nov 2014, 421-430

Abstract

The impact of rapport-based interview techniques on suspect use of counter-interrogation tactics (CITs) was examined in an operational field sample of 181 police interrogations with international (Al-Qaeda and Al-Qaeda-inspired), paramilitary, and right-wing terrorists. The observing rapport-based interpersonal techniques (ORBIT) framework was used to code rapport-based interrogator skills along 2 dimensions: motivational interviewing skills and interpersonal competence (use of adaptive interviewing behaviors and absence of maladaptive interviewing behaviors). Two components of suspect behavior were measured using the ORBIT tool: interpersonal behavior and counter-interrogation techniques (passive, verbal, passive verbal, no-comment, and retraction). Structural equation modeling revealed that adaptive interviewing was directly associated with decreases in passive CITs but, counter to expectations, increased the prevalence of passive verbal responding. Interrogator use of motivational-interviewing-consistent skills was directly associated with improved adaptive interviewing; reduced maladaptive interviewing; and decreases in passive, verbal, and no-comment CITs, but was associated with higher rates of retraction. Motivational interviewing skills also had a significant indirect effect on reducing passive and increasing passive verbal CITs through its indirect effect on adaptive interviewing. Overall, findings indicate that adopting an adaptive rapport-based interrogation style in which suspects are treated with respect, dignity, and integrity is an effective approach for reducing suspects’ use of CITs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).