POLICE INVESTIGATIONS 101

LESSONS FROM SHAKESPEARE’S Henry the Fourth (Part 2)

Gilles Renaud | Ontario Court of Justice (Retired)

INTRODUCTION

In this article, I document the various elements of guidance and instruction from Shakespeare’s play Henry the Fourth (Part 2) that may result in enhanced excellence in investigative work. Briefly stated, the discussion is organized along broad, thematic lines involving demeanour evidence, interviewing skills, human nature, judgment in investigations, professionalism and other themes.

This play includes the well-known phrase, “KING … Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”, at Act 3, sc. i, l. 30, but the reader must understand that if we understand that reference to refer to the Government attempting to advance the public interest, including safeguarding the public from harm, a duty that is daunting, your contributions as peace officers serve to reduce that uneasiness.

DISCUSSION

Demeanour

- Introduction

In few words, think of demeanour evidence as a form of non-verbal testimony. For example, as set out at Act 1, sc. i, l. 70 of Henry the Fourth (Part 2):

NORTHUMBERLAND How doth my son and brother?

Thou tremblest, and the whiteness in thy cheek

Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand…

- Brow – tells a story

Consider Henry the Fourth (Part 2) at Act 1, sc. i, l. 70:

“NORTHUMBERLAND Yea, this man’s brow, like to a title leaf,

Foretells the nature of a tragic volume.

- Countenance

Here is a splendid example:

“FALSTAFF Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow. I
will make the King do you grace. I will leer upon
him as he comes by, and do but mark the countenance
that he will give me.”

- Eyes

They represent the most popular expression of a person’s ability, be it detective or judge, of reading the true thoughts of another. Thus, Henry the Fourth (Part 2) includes these remarks at Act 1, sc. i, l. 95:

NORTHUMBERLAND Why, he is dead.
See what a ready tongue suspicion hath!
He that but fears the thing he would not know
Hath, by instinct, knowledge from others’ eyes
That what he feared is chancèd. …

Later, at l. 106 of Act 1, sc. i, the Bard wrote:

NORTHUMBERLAND
Yet, for all this, say not that Percy’s dead.
I see a strange confession in thine eye.

Of particular interest to us, currently, is that these distant examples may well illustrate the contemporary popularity of demeanour, and especially of the eyes as the mirror of the soul, as so many generations of lawyers and judges have been educated to appreciate these literary references.

- Face

Note this excellent example from Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 5, sc. ii, l. 38:

HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER
O, good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed,
And I dare swear you borrow not that face
Of seeming sorrow; it is sure your own.

- Looks, not of love

PRINCE

“You all look strangely on me. To the Chief Justice.
And you most. You are, I think, assured I love you not.

Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 5, sc. ii, l. 65.

- Smile – might be false or deceiving

This possibility is illustrated in the Induction of the Play Henry the Fourth (Part 2), prior to Act 1, sc. i, l. 1, at l. 11, we read:

RUMOR I speak of peace while covert enmity

Under the smile of safety wounds the world…”

- Trembling

As noted earlier, demeanour including non-verbal “testimony” such as trembling and pallor may be interpreted by the Courts as communicating information. Thus, in Act 1, sc. i, l. 80 of Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Shakespeare wrote:

- NORTHUMBERLAND How doth my son and brother?

- Thou tremblest, and the whiteness in thy cheek

- Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand…

Human nature

- Confidence in one’s innocence

I have often encountered individuals who were charged with a criminal offence who did not wish to retain a lawyer as they were confident that once they explained themselves, the judge would dismiss the charges. In this vein, note this quote from Act 5, sc. ii, l. 36 of Henry the Fourth (Part 2):

- Sweet princes, what I did I did in honor,
Led by th’ impartial conduct of my soul;
And never shall you see that I will beg
A ragged and forestalled remission.
If truth and upright innocency fail m

- Danger of general belief in how others act

Note the inherent dangers of investigating offences of a certain nature, let us say a sexual assault committed in the dark but an unknown assailant, in keeping with stereotypical beliefs. Thus:

FALSTAFF ... A man can no more separate age and covetousness than he can part young limbs and lechery …

Act 1, sc. ii, l. 236 of Henry the Fourth (Part 2).

- Pride cometh before the fall

This common theme in the plays of Shakespeare is seen in Act 4, sc. iii, l. 336 of Henry the Fourth (Part 2):

PRINCE

But if it did infect my blood with joy
Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride …

- Youthful foolishness

There is always a fear that the witnesses you interview have allowed, consciously or not, a prejudice to influence their report or statement, such as a bias against young persons. See, by way of limited example, this quote:

KING

…Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth,

Thou seek’st the greatness that will overwhelm thee.

See Act 4, sc. iii, l. 249 of Henry the Fourth (Part 2).

Interviewing of suspects and witnesses

- Hearing – poor, to pursue an advantage

FALSTAFF  Boy, tell him I am deaf.
PAGE  You must speak louder. My master is deaf.
CHIEF JUSTICE  I am sure he is, to the hearing of
anything good… [for enemies]

This passage shows that detectives ought not to point out such stark accusations of lack of co-operation so openly, as it serves no obvious purpose to antagonize persons you might need to enlist to help your other investigations. See Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. ii, l. 125. If you are recording with both audio and video, you might wish to speak more softly, to verify if the witness responded fully to even more silent questions, to demonstrate lack of candour and desire to advance justice.

- One question at a time

Try to avoid what is set out next, and ask a question at a time, not asking a further one until the earlier one is answered. Thus:

FALSTAFF What’s your name, sir? Of what condition are
you, and of what place, I pray?

See Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 4, sc. ii, l. 1.

- Push a witness to answer your questions

Investigators must be careful not to create an atmosphere of coercion. Words such as “drive”, noted below, might be interpreted quite negatively.

FALSTAFF No, no, no, not so. I did not think thou wast
within hearing.
PRINCE I shall drive you, then, to confess the wilfull
abuse, and then I know how to handle you.

Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. iii, l. 315.

And note as well the expression “howl” below, from line 350.

FALSTAFF No, I think thou art not. I think thou art quit

for that. Marry, there is another indictment upon thee for suffering flesh to be eaten in thy house contrary to the law, for the which I think thou wilt howl.

- Record answers clearly and insist on clear answers

It is now necessary to record all information obtained from a witness, to assist the prosecution to prepare its case and to permit full disclosure to the defence and, as well, to clarify and misunderstanding. In other words, clear answers recorded and a full record. You cannot allow questions to be left unanswered, and you may record “You refuse to reply, and we will move forward, to return to this subject later.”

FALSTAFF  Dost thou hear, hostess?
HOSTESS  Pray you pacify yourself, Sir John. There
comes no swaggerers here.
FALSTAFF  Dost thou hear?

Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. iii, l. 80.

- Threat – s great example

“PISTOL Under which king, besonian? Speak or die.” See Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 5, sc. iii, l. 114.

- Truth throughout and not just at the start

Note what is set out on in the Induction of the Play Henry the Fourth (Part 2), prior to Act 1, sc. i, l. 1.” “RUMOR … But what mean I To speak so true at first? …” See l. 23. Stated otherwise, investigators must be careful that the statement they obtain sets out truth not only at the start but throughout its content.

- Valour of police not always rewarded

It is a sad truth but quite often, the sacrifices of peace officers are not always rewarded and, at times, not even acknowledged. As we read in Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 4, sc. ii, l. 31:

FALSTAFF … I never knew yet but rebuke and check was the reward of valor …

- Vocabulary – ensure full explanations of any phrase

Should any potential witness resort to a phrase open to interpretation, you should ensure that the person be given an opportunity to explain the meaning. For example:

CHIEF JUSTICE What, you are as a candle, the better
part burnt out. [See Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. ii, l. 160]

Note as well a line that is puzzling:

PAGE Away, you scullion, you rampallian, you fustilarian!

[Act 2, sc. i, l. 60]

- Weeping, male police officers showing emotion

The example that follows shows what is now a silly question in that one could never fault anyone for weeping, considering the many tragic circumstances that they experience in their quite trying circumstances: “PRINCE What wouldst thou think of me if I should weep?” See Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. ii, l. 50.

Judgment in investigations

- Charter warning

Note that the Chief Justice issued no Charter or common law warning, in the early 15th century, prior to requesting that one apparently involved in a bar fight, explain his apparent misconduct. As noted in Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. i, l. 65:

CHIEF JUSTICE

How now, Sir John? What, are you brawling here?

Doth this become your place, your time, and business?

This is not improper in our day and age if the circumstances require an immediate explanation to prevent further harm such as when the police cannot readily ascertain if an armed individual is present, etc. Circumstances dictate the technical compliance with evidentiary rules and the risk that a statement might not be received buy the courts is often far less a concern as compared to identifying dangers. In any event, from a purely functional perspective, there might be no real loss of evidence if cameras and other witnesses may supply all required information.

- Diversity of opinions highly prized

A peace officer who cannot apply independent thinking and reach individual conclusions is neither valuable nor successful. Consider:

“PRINCE It would be every man’s thought, and thou art a blessed fellow to think as every man thinks.

Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. ii, l. 53.

- Excuses

In terms of police leadership, you ought not to train persons to provide the military-style “no excuses” reply. The training ought to include a report during a description of the error and a prescription to avoid further errors of the same kind. The type of leadership I consider faulty is noted in the quote that follows:

- FALSTAFFYou must excuse me, Master Robert Shallow.
SHALLOW I will not excuse you. You shall not be
excused. Excuses shall not be admitted. There is no
excuse shall serve. You shall not be excused.—

Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 5, sc. i, l. 3.

- False information

As illustrated in the Induction of the Play Henry the Fourth (Part 2), prior to Act 1, sc. i, l. 1, we read:

RUMOR … Stuffing the ears of men with false reports

…Rumor is a pipe Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures … From Rumor’s tongues

They bring smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs.

See l. 10 and following. In other words, investigators must be careful not to be swayed or even influenced be reports unless and until they have been analyzed thoroughly and they ought to display a healthy dose of cynicism involving reports by criminals and others wishing to profit from co-operation with the authorities.

- Generalities are dangerous half truths, if even that high in number

Peace officers investigate factual controversies by studying facts and ought to be, but little influenced by generalities such as “… Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying …” Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. ii, l. 312.

- Hearsay – examine root of information you are receiving

Detectives are well advised to seek to obtain the basis for any information brought to their attention that is important. As we read in Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. i, l. 30:

NORTHUMBERLAND How is this derived

Saw you the field? Came you from Shrewsbury?”

Of note, the lines that follow serve to qualify the reliability of the speaker and the lack of a financial incentive in providing information. As we read:

A gentleman well bred and of good name, That freely rendered me these news for true…

Note as well what Warwick proclaimed about the dangers associated with rumours:

It cannot be, my lord. Rumor doth double, like the voice and echo, The numbers of the feared … [Act 3, sc. i, l. 79]

- Judgment – no room for conjecture or guesswork

Investigators are invited to read the opinion of Lord Bardolph and to form their own opinion of his conclusions, though I agree with them. See Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. iii, l. 20:

- LORD BARDOLPH …

- …we be thought too feeble, My judgment is we should not step too far

- Till we had his assistance …

- Conjecture, expectation, and surmise
Of aids incertain should not be admitted.

In addition, note the opinion advanced a few lines further down, one I take exception to as “likelihoods” are not very reassuring and “hopes” are dangerous if the public interest is at play.

HASTINGS
But, by your leave, it never yet did hurt
To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope.

Thereafter, in the context of the play involving warring factions, plans for combat are assimilated to building a structure in accordance with designs and drawings that must be re-thought as attempt gives way to actual results. The same reality is no doubt one that detectives confront in organizing investigations, projects, etc.

- Justice – many ways of viewing acts as just or not

The various subjective aspects law and justice are made plain in the lengthy text that follows:

CHIEF JUSTICE
I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me.
And in th’ administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your Highness pleasèd to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the King whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgment,
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought?
To pluck down justice from your awful bench?
To trip the course of law and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person?
Nay more, to spurn at your most royal image
And mock your workings in a second body?
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father and propose a son,
Hear your own dignity so much profaned,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdained,
And then imagine me taking your part
And in your power soft silencing your son.
After this cold considerance, sentence me,
And, as you are a king, speak in your state
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege’s sovereignty.
[Emphasis added]

Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 5, sc. ii, l. 75.:

- Literal versus figurative meaning of words of complaint

On occasion, persons will complain to the police by means of a poetic phrase that if taken as Gospel truth, indicates a crime, such as the underlined phrase below. Of course, if must be understood in a functional fashion such that “being eaten out of house and home” does not mean that a charge of mischief is fit.

- HOSTESS … He hath eaten me out of house and home. He hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his… [Emphasis added]

See Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. i, l. 75.:

- Loss of memory, temporary, due to emotion

This is illustrated in Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. i, l. 231:

NORTHUMBERLAND
I knew of this before, but, to speak truth,
This present grief had wiped it from my mind.

- Measurements

Often, it is difficult for the police to measure the distance between a protected person and the suspect. Consider:

- KING …

- Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,
The tutor and the feeder of my riots.
Till then I banish thee, on pain of death,
As I have done the rest of my misleaders,
Not to come near our person by ten mile …

See Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 5, sc. v, l. 65.

- Proportionate response to provocation in an assaultive context

Self-defence often involves the claim that a violent response was in keeping with the violence endured or reasonably apprehended. In such cases, the investigators must judge the reasonableness of the physical response. The classic case of over-response totally disproportionate is to resort to a bazooka to defend against a person who is 100 meters away across from a moat and who is obviously suffering from serious leg injuries who is threatening with a slingshot containing no form of explosive or weapon. The play offers this illustration:

CHIEF JUSTICEHow comes this, Sir John? Fie, what man of good temper would endure this tempest of exclamation? [Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. i, l. 85]

A further example of the police having to judge, to weigh, the respective actions of those involved in a physical encounter, to assess the claim of self-defence, is seen in Act 4, sc. i, l. 66 wherein the Archbishop states:

… Hear me more plainly. I have in equal balance justly weighed What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer, And find our griefs heavier than our offenses.

- Protect the police officers under your command

Sean Connery’s character in The Untouchables instructs Kevin Costner, the leader of the small investigative squad, that the first lesson of policing is to return home safely at the end of the duties. To the same effect is the quote set out next, from Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. i, l. 14:

HOSTESS Alas the day, take heed of him. He stabbed me in mine own house, and that most beastly, in good faith. He cares not what mischief he does. If his weapon be out, he will foin like any devil. He will spare neither man, woman, nor child. [Emphasis added]

- Wake not a sleeping wolf, save when must

Policing out not to involve this type of image but on occasion, investigators are required to inquire of things that are deeply troubling and that certain deem best left undisturbed. However, to be true to your oaths, you must seek out pertinent information from all available sources. Consider Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. ii, l. 157:

CHIEF JUSTICE But since all is well, keep it so.

Wake not a sleeping wolf.

- Wise directions to your subordinates

Consider this example from Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 5, sc. ii, l. 123.

PRINCE … To your well-practiced wise directions.

Professionalism in policing

- Argument need not be defended at length

At times, brevity in your explanation for a course of conduct is far more eloquent and better received than a lengthy one. Shortly put, a long explanation is more likely seen as an excuse, while a brief one is potentially received as a justification. In this vein, note what follows from Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 5, sc. i, l. 25:

WARWICK
We do remember, but our argument
Is all too heavy to admit much talk.

- “Good phrases” are not your goal but good reports

In writing your reports, you seek to communicate effectively and if you command a “good pen”, so much the better but your first goal is to advance communication of essential information to your superiors and then to the prosecutor, knowing as well that your brief will be transmitted to the court for pre-trials and the judge may not appreciate fully the case if your report is poorly explained. In this context, note Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 3, sc. ii, l. 72:

SHALLOW It is well said, in faith, sir, and it is well said indeed too. “Better accommodated.” It is good, yea, indeed is it. Good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable.

Refer as well to the Epilogue, l. 5:

First my fear, then my curtsy, last my speech. My
fear is your displeasure, my curtsy my duty, and my
speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a good
speech now, you undo me, for what I have to say is
of mine own making, and what indeed I should say
will, I doubt, prove mine own marring. [Emphasis added]

- Ignoring the qualities of any precise group of officers

Superiors ought not to assume that any precise group within the police station is without talent to assist in resolving a case. Thus:

FALSTAFF You that are old consider not the capacities of us that are young…

Refer to Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. ii, l. 177.

- Keep detainees in a secure and safe fashion

Consider this example, found in Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 4, sc. ii, l. 75:

JOHN OF LANCASTER
Send Colevile with his confederates

To York, to present execution.

Blunt, lead him hence, and see you guard him sure.

- Misconduct in investigations

The quote that follows is relevant, found in Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 2, sc. i, l. 112.

CHIEF JUSTICE Sir John, Sir John, I am well acquainted with your manner of wrenching the true cause the false way.

- Opinion sought by your supervisors must be well reasoned

Police officers owe their supervisors and the community the best that their judgment permits and nothing less than excellence will suffice. As well, it is not fit to avoid pointing out any errors committed by those whom you lead or that direct you, but tact and diplomacy are qualities. Think of the guidance consigned in Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. iii, l. 3:

ARCHBISHOP And, my most noble friends, I pray you all

Speak plainly your opinions of our hopes.

And first, Lord Marshal, what say you to it

- Patience

It is a great quality for police officers, from general investigation requiring tedious work to lengthy surveillance work. In this context, consider Henry the Fourth (Part 2), Act 1, sc. ii, l. 232.

CHIEF JUSTICE … You are too impatient to bear crosses…