Testimonials

Shane, I attended your training session in Sioux City, IA this past month and thought I would pass on a note of thanks. I’ve been a cop for 20 years and have had very good result interviewing/interrogating suspects. One area that always presents problems is dealing with “career” criminals.

I recently had a case involving the theft of tools from a construction company. The only suspect they had (no proof, just a suspicion) was one of our local halfway house “clients”. I spoke with his parole officer and he told me the suspect had been a problem since being paroled and that he has always had an attitude problem. I told the P.O. I would like to interview the suspect and he just laughed saying the guy would never talk.

Well, I set up an appointment (as you suggested) and met with the suspect at the center. After 45 minutes I had a full confession and his cooperation in retrieving the stolen property. I was amazed at how efficient the introductory statement worked. His P.O. and the others at the center could not believe that this guy folded. His blunders and subsequent confession were unnoticed by him until it was too late. Just thought you might appreciate some feedback.

I attended your Interview and Interrogation Course in August and was very impressed. I have been using the techniques ever since and have been very successful in interviews including workplace violence interviews, selective interviews and theft interrogations. The skills I obtained by attending this seminar are invaluable in my position. However, there was one technique that I believe Shane spoke about during one segment of the course that I put no faith in. I should have known better!

You told us that if a suspect tries to leave an interview don’t give up. Talk to the chair they were sitting in! I laughed at this point and couldn’t believe it would ever work. Well, two days ago during the interrogation of a suspect the interview began to get away from me and the suspect tried to leave. Almost ready to cut my losses I quickly decided to give this technique a try. What else did I have to lose? As the suspect gripped the door knob I looked directly at her chair and kept talking. I even used the suspect’s name when addressing the chair. This went on for 30 seconds or so as the suspect slowly removed her hand from the door knob and crept closer to the chair. After about a minute of this she eventually rested one of her hands on the back of the chair and began to calm down. Then I suggested she make herself comfortable…she did! I ended up getting 20 more minutes out of her! UNBELIEVABLE!

It goes without saying that the skills obtained by attending the Wicklander-Zulawski Course are a great asset. The two of you did a wonderful job. Even this truly bizarre technique that was taught has been proven in this case. I will never doubt again

I attended your seminar in Phoenix on 5/18 & 19 and I just wanted to share with you how I was able to apply the information I learned.

On 5/22, I conducted two employee theft interviews using what I had learned in your class. However, I had difficulty moving from one part of the interview to the next. I obtained confessions from both subjects, but I was not satisfied with how I conducted the interviews.

On 5/24, I conducted an interview of a long-term employee that I had been “watching” for the last month. I had practiced the night prior and I felt very confident going into the interview. I followed your (Wicklander) format “to the letter” and within ten minutes I had her confession. I could not believe how well the statement “my investigation is clear but I just don’t know why” worked. After 45 minutes, her admission amounted to over $15,000 in theft of merchandise and cash.

Prior to taking your seminar, I always relied on the information I already had going into an interview. When I conducted the interview on 5/24, I forgot about the information I had (until the end of the interview), and look how well the interview went.

Thank you for a great seminar. You’re a very good communicator and presenter.

Since taking your class in Middlesex, NJ a few weeks ago, I have been able to use the WZ Non-Confrontational Method in a couple of burglary and theft cases with great results. I’ve been to several classes but yours has been the most useful.

I was in your class on 10/14 to 10/16. Three days after your class, I was involved in an interrogation. One of my night troopers had come to me and told me he had a female heroine addict who had burglarized her sisters house and prior to that had stolen approx. $2,000 dollars from her sister, when the addict was living with her sister.

Since I just took your course I thought I would do the interrogation for him. When the addict arrived I only knew of the larceny and the burglary. By the time I was done with her I had a confession to multiple counts of prostitution. She is now working with our Drug task force.

She is flipping on the guy who set her up for the prostitution. I believe I had the initial confession on the burglary and the larceny with in an hour, the prostitution came shortly after, and the written statement was finished three hours later. During the statement I even got her to give more exact details and more counts to be charged.

The first interview I did after attending the W-Z school in Beaverton, Oregon, with Brett Ward as the instructor, was successful because of this class. I interviewed a male that had tried to strangle a family member and was arrested for attempted murder and kidnapping. As the interview began, the suspect was reluctant to talk to me about the events of that evening. I could tell from his body language and words that he was emotional about his reason for committing this act.

I used the WZ Method with the suspect to tell his side of the story and he confessed. The suspect described his actions in great detail and even included what he planned to do with the victim’s body after she died. This training allowed me to understand what to look for in the suspect’s behavior as well as how to use that in the interview.