VOLUME 4 | NUMBERAW I3 | QJULYU 2013ARTERLY A S S O C I AT I O N O F W O R K P L A C E I N V E S T I G AT O R S V O L U M E 3 • N U M B E R 3 J U LY 2 0 1 2 Capturing the Witness Statement AWI JOURNAL By Keith Rohman and Elizabeth Rita Published quarterly in Best Practices for Collecting and Preserving Digital You Want Me to InvestigJanuary,ate Wh April,o? — July, October Introduction The Challenges of High-ByL eAssociationvel Inves tofig Workplaceations FewCom topicsmun iignitecatio na smorein W spiritedorkpla cdebatee Inve amongstigati oworkplacens investigators than Investigators, Inc. howBy W toin scaptureton Kro thene witness’s statement. Whether they rely on noteBy taking,Allison West 770 L Street, Suite 950 audio recording, or drafting witness declarations, investigators feel passion- Sacramento, CA 95814 916.760.2442 atelyIntro aboutductio nthe techniques they use. Each approach brings with it advanTh-e phone rings and before you finish saying “hello,” the [email protected] tagesNot loandng adisadvantagesgo, workplace thatinve impactstigatio nthes m informationight have cen weter eobtain,d how reliablechief com pliance officer of a Fortune 20 client is quickly itm is,os tandly o nhowverb ita lmayexch bean gusedes. T afterward.hese may have been memori- relaying to you that an accTheoun tmissioning ma nofag theer h Associationas just filed alized in near contemporary notes, but often were supported an internal complaint of sexual harassment against the This article will examine the most common techniques investigators use and of Workplace Investigators is to by little more than hearsay and overheard statements. In such Chief Financial Officer.promote In addi tandion tsupporto the ha workplacerassment the factors that argue for or against them. It includes a discussion of brain cases, the investigator had to untangle conflicting accounts charge (which includesinvestigations transcripts of asvo iac edistinctmails o areaf the of scienceand ch aresearchnging m relevantemories, tode howterm iwene takethe e in,xac trecord,conten andts o fanalyzea informationCFO m aking lewd anexpertised suggesti vande co mtom enhanceents), th ethe m aqualityn- duringstateme annt, interview.put the sta Theteme narticlet into cwillon tealsoxt, areviewnd/or dtheete rtensionsmine among adifferger -also accuses the CFO ofof fworkplaceiling false einvestigations.xpense reports. entif it approacheswas even m aandde ithen th choicese first p linvestigatorsace. Frequen maketly thi swhenboile theyd choose oneAs if that isn’t enough, the manager also alleges that in- approach or another. down to an evaluation of “he said/she said.” house counsel, the CFO, www.aowi.organd one Board member in- structed her not to provide current information Methodology With the explosive growth of email, Instant Messaging (IM), regarding certain transactions to the outside accountants We used a variety of resources to explore these issues. We surveyed the d15ur ing a recent audit. YAllou sarticlesend off arethe eCopyrightngagemen t2013 let- membersand text mofe thessag AWIes, an Boardd the ofbl uDirectorsrring of wtoo rdeterminek and per stheironal practices. The by Association of Workplace ter, sit back and wonder where in the world to begin. boardcomp uist ecomposedr usage, all eofge experiencedd acts or stat epractitionersments made ifromn the differentwork- fields, includ- Investigators, Inc., unless otherwise ingpla cattorney-investigators,e are now usually evid eprivatenced b yinvestigators,direct or he aandrsay humandigital resources profes- specified. All rights are reserved. sionalscomm uwhonica tconductions. I ninvestigations.vestigators fre1 qWeuen reviewedtly face sscientificituations literatureAs in vones tibraingator s, our most imArticlesporta nmayt di cnottat ebe is republishedthat we rem ina in sciencewhere e tom pfindloyee insightss have p rintointe dhowout apeoplend br ocaptureught sp eandcifi cprocessmes- information.independ enAdt- and objective aanys w emanner interv iwithoutew wit ntheess eexpresss, anal yze ditionally,sages to th wee a tobtainedtention o finformationtheir emplo fromyer’s Ha uusefulman Rarticleesour cines CAOWIdo cQuarteruments,- and render our writtenfindin gpermissions. But are ofal lthe in vcopyrightestigation s lyd,e p“Perspectivesartment, sup eonrvi sDifferentors, or un ionMethodsreprese noft atDocumentingives. Acts of h a-Witness Interviews.”2 holder. Republicationc orequestsntinued on may page 9 Finally,rassmen thet o rauthors’intimid aowntion experiencescan be reco providedrded “in radditionaleal time” b insights.y 3 be sent to [email protected]. employees communicating to each other (and sending pic- BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ourtures work) by e mhereail, doesIM o notr te xpresentt messa gae comprehensives, as well as Fac esurveybook o ofr practitioners in Amy OppenhTheeim eopinionsr, Preside nexpressedt* in this Michael A. Ropublicationbbins, Vice Pareres idsolelyent* the opinions thisTwi tfield;ter. Ir oitn insteadically, t heutilizesexiste nthece oinsightsf such d andigita lperspectivesevidence ca nof the AWI Board Sue Ann Van Dermyden, Secretary* of Directors as a core group of highly experienced investigators. The survey of the authors. They are not make investigations even more difficult, raising issues of au- Barry Chersky, Athessi sopinionstant Secr eofta rAssociationy* of respondents mostly requested anonymity so they could be more candid in Walter Cochran-Bond, Treasurer* thenticity, privacy, and spoliation. Far from resolving the old Workplace Investigators, Inc. Marilou F. Mirkovich, Assistant Treasurer* “he said/she said” conflict with concrete evidence, the collec- Letters to the editor at awijournal@ 1tion, preservation, and use of digital statements can make the Catherine Balin • Nancy Boraowi.orgnn* • Ma rarey Eg welcome.an • Lindsa Nothingy Harris Of the 15 board members, 11 are attorney-investigators, one of whom is also a privatePam ela L. Hemminger* • John A. Lohse • Julie Moore* investigator.investigato Twor’s t acomesk ev fromen m ao humanre diff iresourcescult. background, one of whom is a private contained in this publication Debra L. Reilly • Keith Rohman* investigator. One, a former member of law enforcement, is an attorney and a private constitutes legal advice. Stephen P. Angelides, Executive Director investigator,General B eandst Ponerac isti ca eprivates for investigator. 2 Joan Hamasu, Assistant Executive Director C oSuelle cAnntin gVanan Dermyden,d Preservi nDebrag Di gL.it Reilly,al Da tAmya Oppenheimer, Rich H. Ramirez, Printed by Allen Press, Inc., “Perspectives on Different Methods of Documenting Witness Interviews.” CAOWI Quarterly *SUSTAININLawrence,G MEMBE KSRS 66044 USA 2,N no.ot e4v e(2011):ry inv e9.stigator has the technical expertise (or a client Ian J. Bondsmith • Barbara Dalton • D’Anne Gleicher 3willing to pay for an outside specialist) to make a pure foren- Both authors have extensive experience conducting and overseeing investigations. Susan K. Hatmaker • Deborah Hinshaw Vierra 1 Summariessic collect iofo ntheirof a professionalll digital d abackgroundsta, so that areevi dfoundence ata nthed f endind iofn gthiss article. Glen E. Kraemer • Karen KramISSNer • C2328-515Xarolyn Lang e(print)nkamp Stefan Miller • Lynn M. MorgISSNenrot h2328-5168 • Geralynn P(online)atellaro 1 Digital forensics (also referred to as computer or network forensics) involves the applica- continued on page 4P atti Perez • Andrea Price • Cynthia Remmers tion of science to the identification, collection, and analysis of data while preserving the Daniel Rowley • S. Brett Sutton • Lizbeth West integrity of the information and maintaining a strict chain of custody for the evidence. continued on page 2 © Association of Workplace Investigators, Inc. AWI JOURNAL | JULY 4/3 | 2013 1 continued from page 1 their remarks and analysis, so what follows is generally a In a group of experienced investigators, we expected there compilation of the respondents’ thoughts and the authors’ would be a “tried and true” best practice for documenting experiences and observations. witness interviews. It became clear as we examined the vari- ous methods, however, that there are compelling arguments One consideration generally trumps all the issues we discuss for and against each of them. below: what the client wants. Internal investigators may be required to follow the standard practices of their organization. Approach 1: taking notes during the interview and using Outside investigators may also be asked to adopt an approach them to prepare a report. consistent with the client’s longstanding internal practices. As If there is a “traditional” approach to documenting the wit- long as these practices do not interfere with the fact-finding ness interview, this option is probably it. The investigator process, the client’s preference is an acceptable guide.4 takes handwritten notes, or types notes with a laptop, and then bases his or her report on these notes. Most investiga- Survey results and analysis tors have used this approach at some point in their prac- We surveyed AWI directors about how they document wit- tices. Forty percent of the survey’s respondents currently use ness interviews and what they see as pros and cons of the this approach. different approaches. Three assumptions were built into the survey: (1) these are interviews conducted in the course of The pros. Approach 1 gets the investigation moving a workplace investigation; (2) the client had not expressed forward quickly and effectively. Once the interview is