And many officers, himself included, did not learn about the techniques through formal training sessions from John E. Reid and Associates.“Accordingly, Reid has now dedicated a regular section of its training seminars and programs to addressing” the series and the case, the complaint added, calling it “a drain” on time and resources.But the company, which is based in Chicago, said it had attracted negative attention because of the Netflix series.“You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing,” Mr. Casolaro says to Mr. Sheehan in the scene. "The Reid Technique has been universally rejected. It worked. John E. Reid, a former Chicago police officer, wrote a textbook on police interrogation. For decades, Wicklander-Zulawski offered a competing version of the Reid Technique, but in 2017 the firm announced that it had abandoned the method, citing the risk of false confessions arising from the misuse of the approach.Sheehan replies: "I don't even know what the f------ Reid Technique is, OK? He had not been formally trained in the method and learned about it from other investigators.Ava DuVernay’s Netflix series about the Central Park jogger case refers to harsh interrogation practices as the “Reid technique.” Now the company behind that technique is suing for defamation.In “When They See Us,” a Netflix series that dramatizes the Central Park jogger case, five black and Hispanic teenage boys are interrogated by investigators in scenes that show them bewildered, scared and alone.Critics of the technique say that it can lead to false confessions. ""You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing, without food, bathroom breaks, withholding parental supervision," the character states.
Neither John E. Reid and Associates, its lawyers nor representatives of Ms. DuVernay responded to requests for comment.In the fourth and final episode of “When They See Us,” the Reid technique is referred to by name.
According to the company, it is the most widely used interrogation method by police agencies worldwide.
“Without food, bathroom breaks. “All of this information is publicly available upon even the most cursory of searches.”“I’ve always thought of it as psychological gamesmanship,” he said. Less than a week after Netflix and Ava DuVernay were sued by an ex-prosecutor depicted in When They See Us, the undoubtedly happy duo today saw a federal judge dismiss a previous lawsuit over the E…
"Defendants published the statements in 'When They See Us' in an effort to cause a condemnation of the Reid Technique. But the Reid technique prohibits “striking or assaulting a subject, making any promises of leniency, denying a subject any rights, conducting excessively long interrogations, or denying a subject any physical needs,” the lawsuit says.The Reid technique is a method of questioning people who are suspected of committing a crime.