Circumstantial And On-Site Assessment
This phase typically involves all investigators. Personal interviews with experiencers, third party witnesses and any other individuals connected in any way with the phenomena, are performed to determine the specifics of the situations, complaints and events and all relevant factors that may have contributed or been somehow affected by the reported claim or incident. As previously mentioned in the Preliminary Interview phase, like in all phases and assessments of the investigation, investigators take special attention in assessing the cursory biomechanical and psychophysiological reactions and responses of the subjects of witnesses in giving clues about the authenticity of the events and situations being reported as the information is being conveyed to the investigators. While it is standard to make all video and audio recording devices kept in view of the interviewee, the various recording equipment can be appropriately concealed to facilitate requirements of the case, according to the needs of the Case Manager, In performing interviews and in collecting information from individuals outside the Official Case investigation security bubble, it is standard for investigators to utilize concealed surveillance audio/video technology to document the undercover interviews. It is usually during this phase that the investigators would determine the extent and dimension of the investigation in respect to which specific individuals would to be introduced to the security and if so, to what extent. Investigators may need to go undercover from house to house or from town to town to collect information that could be pertinent to the complaint or situation being reported.
Standard interviewing process would begin with separating all subjects, witnesses of experiences into separate controlled environments, away from all distractions, and interviewing them individually by two or more of the investigators. These interviews may be repeated several times to properly assess the authenticity of statements.
If the situation meets with protocol requirements, the previous interviewing process is repeated, but this time the subject and /or witness is taken back to the specific location where the claimed event and any and all movements leading up to and after the event.
If there is more than one subject or witness, depending in the situation, the psychodynamics and the number of subjects, the previous two interviewing processes will be repeated again, but this time allowing all the subjects to be part of the same interview and additionally allowing them to interact in conveying their experience or encounter in the environment.
Investigators will perform a reenactment of events to determine the possible theories which could rationally explain the events and how certain minute circumstances can be misinterpreted by the witnesses or subjects under the same conditions originally experienced by them. Additionally applying psychological and mechanical concepts in magic and illusion, the investigators will interpret the possible causes behind the claimed events, including the possibilities that the event are hoaxes. First; this phase will strategically plot the nature flow-of-events of the circumstances away from the actual site. Second; investigators will initiate this identical circumstantial plotting, but applying it to the actual environment while they are at the site. Every minute detail, from the time of day, to the whereabouts of any low flying aircraft are taken into consideration.
Any and all documentation (audio, video, photographs, materials, etc.) is taken into consideration in this phase and properly logged for analysis. According to O.S.I.R. protocol, a single piece of evidence only has as much significance as the method in which it was documented and the percentage of overall documentation which has been collected. NO ONE PIECE OF EVIDENCE HOLDS AND SCIENTIFICALLY SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT ON THE INVESTIGATION.
Like with all phases of the investigation, in the Circumstantial Assessment, while the Case Manager and the Investigators may rule out the plausibility of a hoax, a calculated percentage of a hoax still being perpetrated is always suggested throughout the entire investigation, even after explainable solution (be it paranormal or rational) has been found.
The O.S.I.R. Handbook
- The O.S.I.R.: An Introduction
- Preliminary Interview
- Circumstantial And On-Site Assessment
- Psychological Assessments
- Research and Technologies
