How a blank videotape can yield a confession

March 11, 2009 09:08 AM •

Here’s a tip that involves a creative use of videotape as a means of getting a legitimate confession from a suspect. It comes from a Street Survival Newsline interview with Wisconsin Chief Mike Nordin:

“We received a report from a grocery store manager that an individual was seen committing a crime in the store. The manager had followed the individual to the parking lot and taken his license plate number. I traced the plate and called the individual, who we’ll call Ernie, at home and invited him to come in to the department.

“When I called I introduced myself and said, ‘Ernie, I’d like to have you come on down to the station to see me. I have something to discuss with you. Can you be down here in about 20 minutes?’ He never asked me what I wanted to discuss, he just said that he could make it. One of the things I’ve learned is that if someone doesn’t ask you what you’d like to talk to them about, they’re probably guilty. Ernie already knew what I wanted to discuss and he didn’t want to hear me bring it up. He was hoping against hope that I didn’t want to discuss what he’d done wrong. When they do ask, I avoid telling them by stating that the phone lines are tapped and I’d rather not discuss the matter over the telephone. Usually that works.

“When Ernie arrived at the station I had a large file folder filled with papers, which I hoped he would think was some huge investigative file we’d developed against him, and a videotape in my hands. I invited him in to my office and told him to take a seat.

“I set the video cassette, which I had labeled ‘Store Security Tape #13,’ on my desk with the label facing Ernie. When I was sure he’d read it, I quickly grabbed the tape and flipped it over as though I didn’t mean to have him see it.

“After a few introductory comments I asked, ‘Ernie, was this something you planned for a long time or was it a spur of the moment thing?’ ‘Spur of the moment,’ he replied. Case closed.

“After I got all the details I asked Ernie what made him decide to tell me everything. He said, ‘I couldn’t very well deny it. You have it on videotape.’ Just as I had planned, he assumed the videotape contained footage of him committing the crime in the store. In truth, it was a blank tape.”

Investigations

Scott Buhrmaster

Scott Buhrmaster is the CEO of Calibre Press, one of the leading law enforcement training and information providers in the industry. Scott’s 30-year tenure began in 1989 when he originally signed on with Calibre where he was involved in the creation and marketing of the organization’s popular training courses and award-winning textbooks, videos and online publications.

In 1999, Scott launched The Buhrmaster Group, an organization focused on helping law enforcement training companies develop, market and expand their training efforts. Among his clients was Police1.com, which he signed on with full time as their vice president of training and editorial. During that period, Scott was named to the National Advisory Board of the Force Science Institute, at the time a newly developing organization which was also among his list of clients. Following a seven-year tenure at Police1, Scott signed on with Force Science full-time, initially serving as their vice president of operations and most recently serving as their COO.

Scott has been a long-time contributor to Police1 and has written extensively for other publications and Web sites in the law enforcement market. Additionally, he helped launch two of the most popular e-newsletters in the industry; the Street Survival Newsline and Force Science News. While at Police1, Scott served as the publisher of Police Marksman magazine and a contributing editor for Law Officer magazine.