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Howard Miller: Evaluating the tips on the Levy case



Howard Miller is a former detective with the Washington, D.C. police department. He was in law enforcement for nearly 30 years, and has worked as a polygraph examiner in the Washington metropolitan area since 1982. He is currently a private investigator for the Miller Consulting Group.

CNN: Thank you for joining us today, Howard Miller, and welcome.

MILLER: Hello there, CNN chatters!

CNN: How do police evaluate tips received during search investigations?

MILLER: The first thing that police want to look at is the general validity of the information. The more logistics required to satisfy the search, the more critical they'll be. So, if someone says: "We have something in the basement of the White House," they'll be very critical before they start a search like that.

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Levy's aunt says Chandra often confided in her about Condit. CNN's Bob Franken interviews Linda Zamsky (August 1)

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CHAT PARTICIPANT: Why would the D.C. police publicize this tip over others they have received?

MILLER: I have no idea. I understand that it may have been premature information, since the basis of the tip came from a California site. That maybe they thought they would proceed on it right away, then decided to re-evaluate.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Mr. Miller, how do high profile investigations differ from typical investigations?

MILLER: Obviously, in high-profile investigations, there will generally be more tips, with more people participating, submitting ideas and information.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Has anyone considered that the Levys called in the tip to keep the pot boiling? It came from California.

MILLER: I don't think they would, but anyone who is interested, that could be a motivation. Maybe not necessarily by the Levy's, but to put pressure on the Congressman, a political motivation. I think the Levys are sincere in their effort to locate their daughter, and I don't think they'd manipulate by giving false information.

CNN: When do police take a tip seriously and what is the next step?

MILLER: The first thing that police look for is information provided by a tipster that is information that only someone with detailed knowledge of the investigation will know. They also look at the simplicity of the information. They expect that most people who give information will communicate as lay people, and anything too sophisticated might be looked at with suspicion. There is another area of concern, and that is that the style of writing might indicate the mental state of the writer. We call it "word salad," people writing in grandiose terms. Sometimes they're clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia, and they want to be part of the process, want to communicate their concerns, as participants. Some people have a high sense of confidence about their intuition, and they'll communicate tips as though they're actually involved in the experience.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Why does it take so long for investigators to react to the information they receive?

MILLER: If the information requires a lot of logistics, police management have to decide where to move the resources. It's evaluating available resources against the tip. If the tip was that the person was actually alive, that would certainly make it a different priority.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Mr. Miller, how would you characterize the progress in investigating the Levy case, as compared to other investigations?

MILLER: The Levy case obviously is high profile. A lot of interest from the public generates a lot of leads. There's a lot of pressure on the police with a lot of people looking over their shoulder. As you know, too many cooks spoil the stew. On the other hand, contrast that to a missing person that no one seems to know about, with a limited interest group. In some ways it's a blessing, in some ways it's not.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Since the tip is leading to a military installation, will the military police be doing the investigating?

MILLER: The military has jurisdiction over its property. There's no question about that. They'll treat is as though there may be criminal evidence within their jurisdiction, and pursue it if they deem it credible. The FBI has an interest in this, since it involves a Congressman, and potentially moving a person across country, and they'll probably give guidance to the Military Police as far as what resources to apply. They tend to be cooperative with civilian law enforcement, and will respond in a positive way if the civilian law enforcement agencies that are concerned request it.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: If that tip was indeed a hoax, can the person, if they can find them, be prosecuted?

MILLER: If there is a crime of giving false information to the police, and if they give the information directly to the police, they could be charged criminally. Also, lying to a FBI agent or any federal law enforcement agent is considered a crime, too, and is usually a felony. Every state has different laws as to how they manage that situation.

CNN: Are tips like this usually anonymous?

MILLER: Yes, I'd say unless the people are interested in rewards, then a lot of tips go through crime solvers, because crime solvers has a proven method of not identifying sources. There are a lot of ways to pass information, and the Internet is an interesting one. But normally, anonymity is important to the people giving the information. Sometimes they're from the criminal population, or people known to the family that they don't want to share directly, or maybe they're trying to avoid media attention.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: What types of leads tend to yield the best results?

MILLER: The tips where the sources identify their credibility by their knowledge of the case. Also, it's simply communicated, and they'll sometimes explain why they want to be anonymous.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: What makes the cops think that she is in the DC-VA area? Why search there when it seems as if she was leaving that area to go home?

MILLER: Obviously, they're working on the theory that she may have met foul play, and since she was a person who used public transportation and walked, they'll search around here. Also, the records show that there's no record of airline, bus or train activity. So, they'll search around here. Normally those conveyances require identification, except the bus, where you can buy a ticket with no questions asked. The site at Fort Lee mentioned by the informant is interesting to me because there's a federal reformatory at Petersburg, which is adjacent to the Fort Lee land. This is a facility very close to Washington, and she worked at the bureau of prisons. That's interesting to me. There might be a tie there.

CNN: How many tips usually come in on an investigation like this?

MILLER: An investigation of this magnitude, I'd say the tips are probably in the hundreds, and beyond, but within a hundred would be credible, worthy of examination. Beyond that, there are probably a lot of tips not rising to that level. A number I heard was 67 potentially credible tips.

CNN: Do you have any final thoughts to share with us?

MILLER: My concern is that this case is getting older. Chandra's physical image has been out there, and the fact that we're not seeing her or finding her anywhere indicates to me that there's certainly probably foul play involved, and the family certainly needs closure. One more good tip that would bring closure would be a great gift, especially to the family.

CNN: Thank you for joining us today.

MILLER: If you have good information, share it with the police in the location where you live, or the FBI. Thank you.

Howard Miller joined the chat via telephone from Washington, D.C. CNN provided a typist for Howard Miller. The above is an edited transcript of the interview on Thursday, August 02, 2001.






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• Rep. Gary Condit
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• D.C. Police: News release
• America's Most Wanted
• U.S. Bureau of Prisons

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