How to Catch People Lying, According to a Police Officer
Over my years as a Cop, my job depended on knowing if someone was lying. The stakes couldn’t have been higher. Get it wrong, and a guilty person could go free, or an innocent person could be locked up.
An important note before we start — there is no definitive signal that someone is lying. All behaviors must be interpreted in clusters, and different clusters will mean different things depending on the circumstances.
With that said, let's get started.
1. Changes in speech patterns.
Gregg McCrary is a retired FBI agent. In the 70s, the FBI interviewed dozens of serial killers to develop categories of different types of offenders.
McCrary stated, “The basic premise is that behavior reflects personality.” He believed a vital element of those behaviors is a change in voice or mannerisms when telling a lie.
First, you need to establish a baseline. I used to begin interviews by asking straightforward questions about the suspects' names or where they lived. These aren’t emotional questions; they arouse no suspicion, and answering them will not directly incriminate the suspect. Therefore they’ll answer in the way they usually talk.
Later, when we get to the challenging questions, I can compare any changes in speaking from the base level.
2. Gestures that tell a different story to words.
If someone says yes but shakes their head, this is called a “noncongruent signal, " defined as any movement in the body that doesn’t match the words being spoken. This is a strong indicator of dishonesty.
If I were interviewing a witness, I would look for these gestures because some witnesses know more than they are willing to admit. Maybe they are scared or protective of the offender and need more reassurance or support to open up.
3. Talking little.
When talking to potential witnesses, I’d ask them to describe what they saw. Later I’d ask if they had anything to add. I’m looking for the detail that a liar won’t provide.
It’s much harder to remember your lies when you add detail. Liars need to keep their stories as simple as possible. They deceive by omission.
I’d notice this lack of detail when taking statements or having conversations that felt stunted. The liar wants to wrap the conversation up and get away. Talking to me caused them anxiety, which affected their memory and made detail even more sparse.
Sometimes, I’d ask a witness to take me through the event backward, starting with what they were doing just before I arrived. Again, honest people won’t have a problem with this, but liars will get tripped up, tell a different version of the story, or neglect basic details.
4. Talking too much.
Remember when I said behaviors have to be interpreted in clusters, no one size fits all, and every one is unique? Well, this point demonstrates it. After telling you that talking too little is a sign of deception, talking too much can also signal a liar.
Some liars use too many words. They make up a story as they go along and may add excessive detail to convince others they are being truthful (they know point 3 all too well). They may also use words that an honest person wouldn’t bother adding.
A study also found that liars swear more and use words like he, she, and they to distance themselves from direct involvement.
To prove this, if I asked you what you ate for lunch on 17 October, chances are you won’t remember. But a suspect in a murder who needs an alibi will know precisely what he was doing every minute of the day in question.
5. The eyes give it away.
This is controversial. In the west, we are taught that if a person doesn’t make eye contact, they’re lying. But in other cultures, eye contact itself is a sign of being untrustworthy
When we try to interpret an individual, it becomes more straightforward. If someone is making good eye contact, they may break and look away when they tell a lie. Conversely, someone with poor eye contact may stare at you when feigning authenticity.
Research by UCLA professor R. Edward Geiselman found that people were more likely to stare when lying. 70% of the people in 120 video clips showing liars demonstrated them staring directly at the people they were lying to.
6. Fidgeting.
When a child’s been naughty, they may shuffle around in their seat, look at their hands, rock back and forth and then tell a lie.
This fidgeting signals that anxiety has kicked in and adrenaline is pumping through the body. If a child gives off these signs when they have eaten an extra cookie, imagine what a murderer will look like.
The fidgeting is an attempt to calm the fight or flight anxiety response. But usually, there is nowhere to run and nothing to fight.
7. They tell you what a good liar they are.
Why struggle to spot a liar when they do the work for you? One study found that those who identify as good liars are a better indicator of deception than lie detector tests.
Good liars mainly used simple, straightforward stories and mostly lied to colleagues and friends. However, many criminals used to brag to me about how good they were at lying. They don’t like it because the Police have power over them, so they think they are boasting to demonstrate superiority.
They are just doing my job for me.
Ask yourself why someone would boast about being a good liar. This is the kind of person you should avoid.
8. The hands.
Liars use hand gestures when they finish speaking, as opposed to during or before a conversation. This is because their brain is too busy making up stories, working out if they’re being believed, and adapting accordingly to think about hand movements.
Liars are more likely to gesture with both hands and often face their palms away from you. Perhaps they put them in their pockets.
Honest people will use hand gestures that match what the rest of their body is doing. If someone is looking to the left but pointing in front of him, this is a deception indicator. It occurs because the liar feels no conviction in what he is saying.
9. Sweating or dryness.
In another paradox, too much or too little sweat can be telltale signs of lying. As a result of the nervous system, a liar may sweat in the central part of their face — the lips, forehead, chin, and around the mouth.
Conversely, the liar may suffer dryness in the mouth and eyes, given away by excessive blinking or squinting, biting their lips, or swallowing hard.
10. Nose touching.
When we lie, our nose often gets itchy. Blood flow increases to the erectile tissues in the body, and we have erectile tissue in our noses.
When truthful, President Clinton never touched his nose. But when he lied during testimony about Monica Lewinsky, he touched his nose a total of 26 times.
It’s worth repeating that this doesn’t mean everyone who touches their nose is a liar. Maybe they have a cold, feel chilly, or any number of other reasons. Use this information as one statistical cue among many.
11. Neck touching.
Sometimes, a liar touches their neck due to increased sweat because of the anxiety of being caught in a lie.
A liar may tug at or adjust their collar.
Lying can cause a tingling sensation in the neck tissue. People scratch their necks to relieve this feeling.
12. Ear touching.
Pulling or touching the ears is a way to stop hearing the lies you’re telling. If someone feels embarrassed or nervous, their ears may turn red and rise in temperature due to the increased blood flow.
Also, be wary of people who rub the back of their ear, tug at their ear lobe, put their fingertip inside the ear or bend the entire ear to cover the hole.
13. Microexpressions.
Most people feel bad about lying to some extent. We give off small facial cues to signal dishonesty.
Seasoned liars suppress their emotions — sometimes to the extent of looking unnatural with a blank stare.
Most of the time, these microexpressions won’t look obvious. Maybe you confront your spouse about possible cheating, and they deny it. At the same time, their mouth slightly opens, their lips become tense, and their eyebrows rise. This might indicate your spouse is afraid of the question and doesn’t want to discuss it further.
These expressions happen fast — usually within a split second. It takes a professional or a very perceptive person to notice and interpret them in the right way.
Is it even possible to detect a liar?
The methods I’ve described may sound confusing and sometimes conflicting. But as I cautioned you earlier, no technique should be used in isolation to determine a liar, whether for personal or enforcement purposes.
Nevertheless, if you have a genuine interest in other people, enjoy reading them, or consider yourself a “people watcher”, you’ll be able to group the signs I’ve described and surprise yourself with how well they work.
It takes practice, but the tips I have given can improve your life in countless ways if you have a decent level of emotional intelligence.
You’ll be able to get the liars out of your life to make way for the people that genuinely value and care about you. And you’ll be less paranoid because you will have faith in your people reading abilities.
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