Within a Decade Every Police Force Will Use Hypnotism
| Published date | 01 January 1980 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8005300108 |
| Author | Sam Napier |
| Date | 01 January 1980 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
SAM
NAPIER
WITHIN
A
DECADE
EVERY
POLICE FORCE WILL USE
HYPNOTISM
Within ten years every police force will have a quiet room with a
chair
to relax in
and
police officers trained in the use of hypnotism.
Then
it will be: "Relax. Now breathe deeply
...
"
Using this technique police forces in America are demonstrating
that
witnesses
can
give greater detail and committed
data
to
investigating law officers.
In
October
1978, as millions of viewers watched the BBC'Tonight'
programme amother
and
daughter, underhypnosis wereable to recall
in greater detail
and
provide new information
about
the
disappearance of missing West
Country
paper girl Ginette Tate.
And recently in Scotland too police have called in a professional
hypnotist to help examine witnesses in a case where a mother
and
daughter
have vanished.
American hypno-investigators explain the value of hypnotism in
helping witnesses or victims of a crime in remembering details which
they otherwise find impossible to recall.
In the United States today Mr. Glenn Alden Bouck is a veteran
hypnotist who has worked on hundreds of cases with the police in
California.
This 55 year old specialist deals particularly with cases
of
kidnapping, rape
and
violence in which the victim is usuallyfemale. In
many of the cases the victim has blotted out vital details which police
need to help them gain convictions.
In a recent case a 14 year old Indian girl was found by a road in
California with a fractured skull. When police officers called to
interview her in the hospital bed she could remember nothing.
Then Mr. Bouck
took
over. Under hypnotism he began to question
her gently. Slowly she began to recall what had happened, how she had
been attacked by five
other
girls. And her story was corroborated by
other
witnesses.
Detective
Marc
Hoffman, in charge of the case, says the hypnosis
was 100 per cent successful.
Then
there was the eight year old rape victim. Under hypnosis in
California she recalled the details of her
attacker
so vividly the man
was traced
and
arrested within hours.
52 Police Journal January 1980
To continue reading
Request your trial