Are police officers really trained to tell if you are lying?

I’m sure their ability to guess is as good as anyone else. I think when people talk to the police they may tend to be a bit more nervous if they did something wrong.Some people will be nervous talking to a cop if they did something wrong or not simply because they may be a different race and there is no way of knowing if you are dealing with good cop or a bad racist cop.

I just wanted to see if what Samuel Jackson’s statement in the movie The Negotiator is true, where he said that cops study liars.

Everybody lies. They see it a lot.

I agree with @filmfann. An experienced officer will be able to spot certain “tells” which are probably fairly universal and which he’s seen many times before. He’s probably also received some kind of training. Personally, I never lie when I’ve been stopped because I don’t think I’ve ever been stopped undeservedly.

Is it true they study Nero Physiology?

If they are trained, the training must suck or is a complete waste of time/money. They are not very good at it. In my experience, they see everyone as lying at all times.

They’re lied to constantly. Eventually, they learn to read people.

They are expert at reading body language and other cues (facial tics, eye positions, etc.), but no one is infallible.

Cops are better at lying than telling when one is lying to them IME.

They’d better do or else why be in the job?
It’s pretty easy to detect lies anyway, various triggers or tells. Someone who lies when you’re face to face with them is usually a dead giveaway.

Whether they are trained to spot lying or not is really an underlying issue. They use specific tactics in order to gather information . It just so happens that, in so doing, they are often able to uncover glaring fallacies.

Now of course, many officers may have a lot of experience, or innate special abilities or training (or they’re good poker players), that give them an edge when trying to sort out truth from fiction. But that’s not a universal trait.

Instead, they rely on a suspect’s big fat mouth to discover those lies. Because of this reliance, the police officer is more well trained in deception than he is at spotting it, in fact. The officer will always make an effort to strike up a conversation and get you talking. This is the first deception, lulling you into a conversation at your own will – because you don’t have to say anything to the cop – and it is almost always advisable not to. Hell, this is the reason for the whole Miranda Rights thing (you have the right to remain silent, etc.).

During these voluntary conversations, a cop will get you talking, and they will listen to specific details. They will often repeat your answers back to you. They will come back around after a few minutes and ask questions they’ve already asked, and listen for discrepancies. They will also look at basic body language while you talk, which can be a measure of honesty. And all of that aside, everything you’ve said is on record. It can and WILL be used against you.

Best policy when dealing with the police is to learn two simple statements. Firstly, “I prefer not to answer that”, (or “I prefer to stay silent”)... and “Am I being detained?”. Those two statements are really the only thing you’ll need to say to a cop. It doesn’t matter if you’re completely innocent and “have nothing to hide”. You should still enforce your rights to avoid any unforeseen trouble.

Of course, most incidents with police are minor, and there’s no reason to be rude. Be cordial and polite and remember how important safety is to the cop, so just do what you can to put the cop at ease (slow movements, hands in the open at all times, calm and sincere). That’ll go further than trying to subvert his built-in lie detector.

I’ve known police officers who were convinced I was lying when I wasn’t (one threatened to arrest me for trying to report a crime). I’m not sure if that’s a character trait, or some kind of police academy enhanced gift. Whatever, it was surely impressive, and one I’ll never forget.

Tada!

@drhat77 Bravo. Excellent!

They are probably capable of looking at certain gives, same as anyone else, and they probably even become adept at it heuristically. Easy ones are suddenly breaking eye contact or an abrupt change in body language.

That said, they are certainly fallible. They don’t really get extensive training in anything, and there is a general sense in the police staffing world that you don’t want someone too smart or too knowledgeable. This often leads to some bad outcomes, naturally.

From a general aspect yes, but I feel it goes hand in hand on how long they have been in the profession as a whole. @bolwerk I agree 100%, it’s all about control, there’s a certain culture that police officers have to abide by while being on the force, which is very similar to any occupation that currently exists. At the end of the day, just because they are “police officers” it’s only a label, a distinction, they are only human, and can be held liable for lack of judgement.

They aren’t held liable. That’s most of the problem with modern policing. They can do whatever the want, lie, and usually get away with it.

@bolwerk most of them aren’t liable depending on the circumstance, but some can be, like mentioned it does depend on how long they have been in the profession. They are human like the rest of us, and if we allow them to do whatever they want, they usually do however if we can catch certain fallacies or lack of judgement that’s where the fun starts, not all police officers are untouchable.