Analyzing 911 Homicide Calls

Deputy Chief Tracy Harpster has served with the Moraine Police Department in Ohio since 1984. He has worked as a street officer, undercover narcotics officer, Sergeant, Detective Sergeant, Operations Lieutenant and Deputy Chief. From 2002-2005, Deputy Chief Harpster was a Task Force Director in the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, investigating large scale RICO, theft, money laundering and gambling crimes. From 2005-2007, he was assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Dayton, Ohio. From 2007 to 2011 Deputy Chief Harpster was the director of the Tactical Crime Suppression Unit Narcotics Task Force. Deputy Chief Harpster received a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Bowling Green State University and is a graduate of the 216th Session of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy, Quantico, VA. In 2006, Deputy Chief Harpster achieved a Graduate Degree from the University of Cincinnati where his Master’s Thesis examined the indicators of innocence and guilt of 911 homicide callers reporting the offense. Deputy Chief Harpster is a member of the Vidocq Society, a crime-solving organization that meets monthly at the Union League of Philadelphia. Members of the Vidocq Society apply their collective forensic skills and experience to "cold case" homicides and unsolved deaths. V.S.M.'s donate their deductive and scientific talents for the common good.Dr. Susan Adams, a retired FBI Agent, is an international speaker and author in Investigative Interviewing Techniques. She has taught in Vienna, Prague, Edinburgh, Ottawa, Toronto, and throughout the United States. Her work appears in over a dozen international journals, books and law enforcement publications. As an instructor at the FBI Academy, Dr. Adams supervised the FBI Academy Unit responsible for teaching Investigative Interviewing and Statement Analysis to National Academy police officers and FBI Agents. She currently teaches Criminal Justice at the Graduate School of the University of Maryland University College. Dr. Adams earned her Ph.D. in Human Development from Virginia Tech and received the University of Virginia’s Jefferson Award for Excellence in Research for her study examining indicators of veracity and deception in written statements provided to law enforcement. She serves as a member of the Vidocq Society, a non-profit group of forensic professionals who offer their services to help solve cold case homicides.

• DedicationAcknowledgementsAuthors’ NoteForewordPart 1: IntroductionChapter One: The Critical Value of 911 Call AnalysisChapter Two: Case Study: Mr. and Mrs. HuntPart 2: Who Is the Call About?Chapter Three: Does the Caller Demand Help?Chapter Four: Does the Caller Provide an Immediate Assessment of the Victim?Chapter Five: Who is the Caller’s Focus? Chapter Six: Does the Caller Accept the Victim’s Death? Chapter Seven: Does the Caller Provide Aid to the Victim as Directed?Part 3: What is the Call About?Chapter Eight: Is the Information Relevant? Chapter Nine: How Does the Caller Describe the Situation? Chapter Ten: How Does the Caller Prioritize the Information? Chapter Eleven: How Does the Caller Describe the Conditions? Part 4: How is the Call Made?Chapter Twelve: Does the Caller Express Urgency or No Urgency?Chapter Thirteen: Is the Caller Fearful? Chapter Fourteen: Is the Caller in Close Proximity to the Victim? Chapter Fifteen: Does the Caller Begin with Initial Sounds or Initial Delays?Chapter Sixteen: Does the Caller Use Aggressive Demands or Passive Defenses? Chapter Seventeen: Does the Caller Show Cooperation with Dispatcher or Resistance to Dispatcher?Part 5: Independent Guilty IndicatorsChapter Eighteen: Attempts to ConvinceChapter Nineteen: Awkward PhrasesChapter Twenty: Conflicting FactsChapter Twenty-One: "Huh?" FactorChapter Twenty-Two: "I Don’t Know"Chapter Twenty-Three: Isolated "Please"Chapter Twenty-Four: Lack of ContractionsChapter Twenty-Five: No ModulationChapter Twenty-Six: Unexplained KnowledgeChapter Twenty-Seven: Indicators Trending Toward GuiltyPart 6: The Big Picture Chapter Twenty-Eight: Does the Call Match the Scene?Chapter Twenty-Nine: Create a Timeline: Murder Does Not Happen in a VacuumPart 7: 911 Analysis Tips for the Law Enforcement TeamChapter Thirty: 911 Analysis Tips for DispatchersChapter Thirty-One: 911 Analysis Tips for Patrol OfficersChapter Thirty-Two: 911 Analysis Tips for InvestigatorsChapter Thirty-Three: 911 Analysis Tips for ProsecutorsChapter Thirty-Four: Case StudiesEpilogueAppendicesAppendix A: Case Study AnalysesAppendix B: Glossary of TermsIndex