False Confession Expert Richard Leo Uses John E. Reid as the Benchmark for Proper Interrogation Procedures

There certainly is a paradox involved in the testimony of false confession expert Richard Leo when on the one hand he testifies that the Reid technique is associated with false confessions, and yet at the same time uses John E. Reid and Associates as the benchmark for proper procedures.

Leo has testified as a false confession expert in a number of cases in which he stated that the police acted improperly, and specifically, that they engaged in coercive behaviors that resulted in a false confession. To bolster his position, he oftentimes refers to John E. Reid and Associates as setting the national standards for proper interrogation techniques.

In one recent case, he testified that the police violated national training standards and stated that “the Reid & Associates manual is sort of the bible of interrogation in America. It was then, and it's now.” When he was asked, “What actions did the officers in this case take that you are opining violated national police interrogation standards?”, he responded, “one would be the use of promises or threats” which Reid has advised investigators not to do for over 60 years.

In another case, Richard Leo stated in his report that:

“the officers in this case violated national police interrogation standards, protocols, and best practices.

First, police are taught to avoid the use of implicit or explicit threats of harm or threats of punishment and implicit or explicit promises of leniency or freedom to elicit incriminating statements, admissions and/or confessions because threats and promises are understood by law enforcement to be psychologically coercive and thus lead to involuntary and/or false confessions.

Second, the investigators violated commonly accepted standards with respect to the length of (subject’s) police interrogation. As discussed earlier, the 1986 Reid and Associates police interrogation training manual book specifically recommends that police interrogate suspects for no longer than 4 hours absent “exceptional situations” and that “most cases require considerably fewer than four hours.

Third, police interrogators are trained to avoid contaminating a suspect by leaking or disclosing non-public case facts to him or her but, instead, to hold back unique case information and let the suspect volunteer case details in order to demonstrate inside knowledge of the crime details to corroborate the accuracy of any incriminating statements.

Fourth, and finally, the Reid and Associates training manuals and programs have always from the 1^st edition in 1942 to the current edition in 2022, repeatedly implores police investigators not to use any interrogation technique that is “apt to make an innocent person to confess.”