Example: A Trooper stops a car for a minor violation. The driver is a known burglar. Burglar tools are observed in the back seat of the car. It is 3am. A nearby Bar had been reported burglarized an hour or so earlier. The driver is arrested for "Convicted Burglar in Possession of Burglar Tools", a felony in Missouri. A search incident to arrest for weapons/contraband yields a bank bag with the name and account number of the burglarized establishment with cash and coin inside. Comparison of the burglar tools to the door frame and Juke Box of the Bar reveals exact imprint matches and matching paint transfers on and with the burglar tools (large screwdriver, 4 pound hammer). This is Pre-Miranda, so the suspect says he found the bank bag on the highway and the cash was won in a card game earlier in the evening, but he can't remember who he was playing with or where the game was held. He refuses to amend his story and as a result soon falls into my hands. Three hours later he writes out a full confession in his own hand and signs it. He does not contest the confession and pulls his time like a man.What happened during that three hours? My partner and I did our thing. What we were known for. But let me tell you, he wasn't yelled at, cursed, threatened or physically abused other than one slap to the side of the head, from behind, under the hairline with an open (wet-gloved) hand. The previously-repeated lie about the poker game earned him that physical shock to his system. I never uttered a word the whole three hours we worked him. The rest was theater, a dance, and a deal. We promised him if he treated us as gentlemen, we would treat him the same, but that we would not lie to him and we expected, as part of the deal, he would not lie to us. He could remain silent, but NOT LIE TO US. This is where the question-response pattern is so important. In the end, he knew he had broken the deal, he lied to us, insulted us, and got his just desserts for doing so and, believe it or not, felt he had been treated like a man. He was not restrained, held or handcuffed at any time. We apologized to him for the fact that this all had to happen, but drove home the fact that HE was the one who burglarized the bar, and he had to pay for the crime because he got caught. He was the one insulting our intelligence by lying to us about the phony card game. He was the one who didn't keep the bargain. He was forewarned that if he lied to us we would not continue to treat HIM with respect. The unseen, unexpected slap to the back of the head was brought on by him. Lying to us, we explained up front, was a personal insult and a deal-breaker.
None of this is written to try to excuse torture. It is inexcusable. I write this to demonstrate a circumstance wherein torture was used to accomplish the intended purpose; as opposed to how the Bush Administration used it, to no good gain whatever. I used it as a short-cut to prison for felons who seemed to prefer County time to Penitentiary time. It was not right, legal or proper. It was done well, though. Departments from miles around would bring their hard cases to us so that we could "talk to them". In short order the word got out to the criminal element and soon just sitting down with us yielded what we needed.
In fairness to truth, however, I must confess, there are some suspects you just don't want to spend any time and effort on. Torture will not move them. There aren't many like that out there but recognizing them early on is essential. One such character was Joseph "Joe the Polak Subilowski. He had just pulled eighteen years flat at Walpole State Prison, got out, promptly robbed a bank and fatally shot a teller in the face for no reason. The FBI had arrested him in Kansas City at the Main Post Office, an elegant old building downtown. His sister had alerted the Bureau to the fact that Joe had asked her to send him money, under another name, General Delivery, Kansas City, Missouri. The FBI was so spooked by Joe that they had eight Agents secreted around the General Delivery Window every day with orders to strip him naked in the lobby incident to arrest. When they threw Joe to the floor and ripped his clothes off (the only sure way to know he was completely disarmed) an elderly patron was so traumatized by the spectacle she fainted right then and there, as if the FBI didn't have enough to deal with. Joe was the guest at a local County Jail while awaiting extradition to stand trial for the bank robbery/murder in Cincinnati. There is a grapevine in every prison and lockup in the world. When Joe's transport was arranged I was selected to accompany Deputy US Marshal Ray Wallis on the trip. I was simply a guard. I had no interest in any conversation with Joe. I think I was probably selected because Joe was proven dangerous and I was proven to be a shooter. My point: when Ray put Joe in the back seat, having never seen each other before, he looked me in the eye and stated: "I ve heard about you, Unger. You can beat me all day long, you'll never get a word out of me and if I get the chance, I'll bite your F*#%(#G throat out. That's the kind of person you don't want to even think about wasting your time getting rough with.
One of the other problems with torture is that some people actually like to do it. There will ALWAYS be the possibility that torture will be used. With Government sponsored torture, the "possibility" becomes a guarantee.
The stories in this piece are not fictional; and yes, the Statute of Limitations has run its course.
Maybe someday I'll write about how "Stick" got his nickname. I'll bet you can guess.
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