Customs look for twitches

Press, 5 August 1983, Page 7

Customs look for twitches

Wellington reporter " The Customs Department will use body language techniques to help catch drug offenders. The department’s chief officer, Mr Bob Taylor, has said that officers trained in new American techniques should be out in the field soon. The technique will also be used to help identify commercial fraud and attempts to evade Customs duty. Some officers at airports and seaports already had an understanding of the rudiments, said Mr Taylor. The technique would; help officers know to which immigrants they should pay closer attention, but more particularly would yield important clues when the person was being routinely questioned in the arrival

hall, when baggage was being processed, and at the Customs barrier.

“Really it’s a study of behaviour under stress. You learn to identify those reactions a passenger displays under certain conditions,” said Mr Taylor.

What are some of the symptoms? Some of the more recognisable, Mr Taylor says, are trembling of the hands, flickering of the eyelids, and excessive yawning. “Added together they could lead to a suspect,” he said.

Every Customs officer would be trained. Although the technique was new, it was proving successful overseas.

The training programme was still being collated, he said.