Follow witnesses interviews

The following sections describe the initial site visit, evidence management, team tools and supplies, tips on photography, and witness interview techniques. Some activities may proceed simultaneously therefore, the investigation team may have to split up assignments. The team leader should make sure everyone understands their roles. 

For follow-up interviews and general information gathering (factfinding type meetings), the ratio of interviewee/interviewer is less critical. A group interview can come across as more open, honest, and less covert. A team atmosphere can be created. Later in the investigation, it may be acceptable to have multiple witnesses present as details and inconsistencies are resolved. The team will have to make this judgment based on the specifics of the occurrence and the workplace atmosphere. 

Do not exceed the witness s interview time without the witness s consent. If more time is needed, consider scheduling a follow-up interview if continuance is inconvenient for the person being interviewed. 

The interviewer should express appreciation for the witness s time, information, and cooperation and gain consent to contact the witness later if necessary for a follow-up interview even if she is confident she will not need it. If the interviwer asks permission for follow-up interviews only with some witnesses, those witnesses may feel they are being singled out. Finally, the investigator should review her notes with the witness. During this review, numerous clarifications and additional details are usually provided. 

Conduct follow-up interviews in the same general manner as other interviews, hut use a more structured, straight-to-the-point interview style. Initially, the interviewer may use open-ended questions, hut follow-up, closed-ended questions are usually asked sooner than they would he asked during the initial interview. Ensure that witnesses do not believe that the follow-up interview indicates the interviewer doubts their credibility. Focus on the gaps in information and apparent inconsistencies. 

During each interview I stepped out of my role as a counselor, called on my experience as a biographer and created a new role for myself. As a fellow companion and seeker of hope and wisdom I witnessed the following stories told to me in mutually beneficial encounters. These stories of creativity and courage poured out to me in the sacred spaces occupied by chemically-injured people, from tiny oases in the desert to spacious urban homes custom-designed to accommodate the chemically sensitive. 

Closely related to an ability to analyze and to understand people is an instinctively curious mind. Both facilitate investigation and revelation of facts—an important function of any lawyer, which like other aspects increases in importance with increasing complexity of subject matter. Chemists inherently tend to be inquisitive. This trait will help the chemist-tumed-lawyer during interviewing of witnesses, examining of witnesses by oral depositions, or in open court. When cross-examining witnesses, he will follow the witness s mental processes, learn what he may be holding back, and perhaps extract testimony that will be helpful to the lawyers case. 

In the following paragraphs, we use the pronoun she when referring to the interviewer and the pronoun he when referring to the witness. This is for convenience of reference only and no gender preference is implied. 

Ask the witness for his opinions and recommendations. Most witnesses want to tell the investigator their ideas about what caused the occurrence and how to fix the problems. However, this should only be done at the end of the interview to minimize influencing the information provided by the witness. Asking for opinions earlier in the interview adds another filter to the data presented. Ask who else may be able to contribute valuable information and invite additional input if new information is remembered or discovered. Finally, the witness should be asked in as nonthreatening a manner as possible, Is there anything else you want to add regardless of how unimportant you think it might be This question is then followed by an extended pause. 

A multi-disciplined team interviewed witnesses and performed tests, and the evidence was followed to a sound conclusion. Investigators sent the explosion meters (flammable gas detectors) to the instrument shop for examination. The welding torch was also inspected. Experts found both the torch and the meter behaved satisfactorily. There was speculation that some aquatic life deteriorated and formed methane, but that was not the case. They concluded that the fuel was dissolved methane from the well water system that was routed to the pump seal. Trace amounts of dissolved methane (about 0.02 percent by volume) accumulated in the well water stream flowing through the 3/8-inch-diameter stream on the... 

Jagschitz quotes one such qualified witness.129 The Auschwitz camp physician he quotes - Dr. Horst Fischer, who claims to have frequently supervised gas chamber executions himself - reports of gassing times of two to three minutes, which agrees with the claims of the vast majority of all other witnesses, including the SS man Hans Munch in an interview conducted by this author.128 The former Camp Commandant R. HoB also spoke of 3 to, in exceptional cases, 15 minutes.130 Such a relatively quick execution would require the use of correspondingly large quantities of Zyklon B. The approximate quantity shall be determined in the following. 

A multidisciplined team interviewed witnesses and performed tests, and the evidence was followed to a sound conclusion. Investigators sent the explosion meters... 

When possible, the victims and witnesses should be interviewed at the scene of the accident. There are several reason why this is the best procedure to follow ... 

It is necessary to identify witnesses, including those who saw the events leading to the accident, those who saw the accident happen and those who came upon the scene itmnediately following the accident. Atty others who may have useful information should not be overlooked. Witnesses and others should be interviewed as soon as possible to minimize the possibihty that they will subconsciousfy adjust their stories to fit the interviewer s concept of what occurred, or to protect someone involved. Witnesses... 

The two main sources of information are observation of the accident site and interviews with those involved (the injured person, witnesses, those who rendered assistance and so on). Observation of the site is fairly straightforward but interviewing is a skill which has to be learned. There are a number of key points to be followed for good interviewing. 

Speed is of the essence it may be desirable to design an initial report form to be faxed to senior management as soon as practicable, to be followed by a more detailed report when time and circumstances permit. The detail may be completed later, following a deeper investigation and Interviews with witnesses. 

Information obtained during investigations is given verbally, or provided in writing. Written documentation should be gathered to provide evidence of policy or practice followed on site, and witnesses should be talked to as soon as possible after the accident. The injured person should also be seen promptly and interviewed. 

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