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By John Reid & Associates
 The
bait question is one of the oldest behavior provoking
questions. It is a specialized question designed to
introduce the possibility of incriminating evidence during
an interview in an effort to entice the suspect to change an
earlier response. Consider that a young girl was abducted
and forced into a vehicle. After several hours the abductor
released her on a country road several miles from town. The
investigation leads to a suspect who is presently on
probation for a similar abduction. Furthermore, the
suspect's vehicle fits the general description of the
vehicle described by the victim. During the course of the
suspect's interview the investigator may ask the following
bait question:
I: "Joe, we are in the process of dusting the inside of your
car for fingerprints. Certainly we will find your prints as
well as fingerprints from friends or relatives who have been
in your car recently. Is there any reason we will find that
young girl's fingerprints in your car? (Pause) I'm not
saying that you abducted her or forced her in any way.
Perhaps she asked you for a ride and, being a nice guy, you
gave her a ride somewhere. That would explain why we would
find her fingerprints inside your car."
J: "You know, she does look a little familiar but I don't
remember giving her a ride." (Suspect sits back in the
chair, dust's lint from his shirtsleeve and crosses his
legs.)
Earlier during the interview the suspect was adamant that
the victim was never in his vehicle. However, now that the
investigator has introduced possible evidence that would
contradict his earlier denial, his response indicates that
he lacks confidence and is fearful. This is typical of the
guilty suspect. Some guilty suspects will change their
earlier position as a result of the bait question, e.g.,
"Now that you mention it, I did give her a ride in my car."
Most, however, will offer a qualified denial or otherwise
exhibit behavior symptoms indicating lack of confidence or
uncertainty.
The innocent suspect, of course, is not at all worried about
the evidence implicating him in a crime he did not commit.
When the innocent suspect is asked a bait question he is
likely to offer an emphatic and confident denial, e.g., "No
you won't. She was never in my car!"
As this example illustrates there are four important parts
to a bait question:
Commit the suspect to a denial within the area of the bait,
i.e., that the victim was never inside the suspect's car.
The bait evidence has to be credible to the suspect. Through
television and other media exposure all suspects are
familiar with fingerprint evidence.
The evidence should be presented as a hypothetical question,
e.g., "Is there any reason why...?" During an interview the
investigator does not want to lie to the suspect and say,
"We found her fingerprints inside your car."
If possible, the investigator should offer the suspect an
innocent explanation for the evidence such as giving the
victim a ride in the car. This is referred to as a
"face-saver.
Computer and internet technology introduces many possible
sources of evidence to use in a bait question. Thanks to
television shows like CSI or NCIS, which frequently utilize
computer evidence, the average suspect readily accepts the
credibility of such evidence. The information provided by
Edward Snowden alleging widespread abuse of internet
surveillance by the NSA further establishes the credibility
of this evidence in the suspect's mind. The following are
examples of possible bait questions centered around computer
technology
Cell phone “If
we were to review the internal record of cell phone calls
you (made or received) last Friday, is there any reason
those records would show that you (called victim on the
night of her death)? Maybe someone else called (victim)
using your cell phone.
"Your cell phone carrier tracks which cell tower processed
your call. If we were to review their records from last
Saturday night, is there any reason they would show you
using a tower in (the area of the crime)? Perhaps you were
in the area even though you had nothing to do with
committing this crime.
"Your cell phone records reflect not only who you called,
but also the date and time of the call. Is there any reason
those records would reflect a call to (person) at around
8:00 pm last Saturday night? Maybe he was on speed dial and
you called him accidentally and immediately hung up.
"Most cell phones have an internal GPS which helps find the
nearest cell tower. It also reveals the location of the cell
phone. If we were to check your cell phone records for last
Friday night is there any reason it would show that you were
near the liquor store that was robbed? Perhaps you loaned
your cell phone to someone who was in the area of the liquor
store
"When something like this happens people always pull out
their cell phones and take photos or videos. We are in the
process of reviewing some that have been submitted by people
trying to help the investigation. We use face recognition
software that can quickly scan faces to look for a match. Is
there any reason we would see you in the crowd near where
this bomb exploded? Just because you were there doesn't mean
you had anything to do with this incident.
Laptop, PC
"A
person's emails are stored permanently in a computer server.
So even though an email is deleted, it can still be
recovered from the server. When we check that server is
there any reason it will show that you have sent or received
emails from (victim)? Perhaps it was an error or you mis-clicked
on a stored email.
"Even though a person clears their search history, it is
still possible, through the search engine provider, to
recover that information. Is there any reason those records
would show that you have (searched or downloaded)
information about (poisons, bomb making, etc.)? Perhaps you
were doing research for a paper or heard something in the
news and wanted to learn more about it.
"Just as everyone has unique handwriting that can be matched
to a particular person, there are also unique aspects of
key-stroking. These can be reconstructed and statistically
analyzed to authenticate who entered information on a
keyboard. If we were to have the password analyzed in this
fashion, is there any reason those results would show that
you were the person who entered the password? Maybe you
entered the password, stepped away from your desk, and
someone else actually sent the email.
"When you log on to the internet there is a record that your
computer used a particular server located in a particular
geographic area. If we were to check the locations of
servers your computer used last Saturday, is there any
reason those records would indicate your computer was in the
(Maryland) area? Perhaps someone else used your computer to
log on to the internet in Maryland.
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