When I first started to do door work, those that I worked with used to impress upon me the importance of witnesses; of making sure that whatever you did, looked and appeared justified and reasonable to those around you i.e. if somebody decided to press charges against you and/or the establishment you were working for, that your actions would look reasonable and not be deemed excessive. However, if you ever talk to somebody who witnesses an incident you are involved in, you may be surprised at what they do and don’t remember, along with their version of events – which may differ wildly to yours. Those in law enforcement who have taken witness statements, will tell you that even somebody who seems very sure they could identify a person in a line up, or says that they can remember events clearly, can find that their memory of things falls apart quite quickly when questioned from a variety of different angles and directions (something that lawyers and attorneys are all too aware of). In this article, I want to look at some of the reasons why it is generally not a good idea to solely rely on a witness’s testimony.

Our memories can change over time, and we can add to them and lose certain details and events, as we retell them, either to ourselves or others. Much of the way we remember things is as stories – there’s a good reason that our early ancestors used stories as a way to preserve knowledge; it’s a much better method than simply trying to remember a list of facts. It’s also one of the reasons that creating a scenario/situation in training helps students to better remember techniques and solutions – if you can create an incident, where a person is followed to the ATM, withdraws some cash, and then has a mugger stick a knife in their back, they will remember the defense/technique far better than if you simply introduce it without a context/story (plus they are getting a much better idea of what violence actually looks like, the warning signs that precede an event, decision making under stress/duress, etc.). Stories, are how we learn and remember things.

Our stories, however, aren’t written on a blank canvas, they come influenced by our previous experiences (other stories), and belief systems e.g. if somebody believes or has a perception that Scottish people are aggressive by nature, they may well remember things a Scottish person says as being overly aggressive or threatening, even when it wasn’t the case, in reality.

We are also much better at remembering events, than we are at remembering details. A witness is much more likely to remember you stepping back from your aggressor, than their height/size or what they were wearing, etc. Therefore, it is good when you are dealing with an aggressor to emphasize your actions e.g. if you back away to “invite” an aggressor into your space (one way to make it clear and visible that they are committing an assault), make it a definite step back, rather than something that could be remembered as a shuffle, a weight shift, or similar. You should also remember that your memory of an incident is susceptible to change and alteration – one reason it is a good thing to talk over what happened to a lawyer, before rushing to make a statement (you have the right to remain silent, and you should take it, however “clearly” you think you remember things, and how justified you felt to respond in the way that you did).  

How people remember the length of incidents can be extremely inaccurate. In short incidents (which most violent incidents are), people’s remembrance of how long they lasted can be increased by a factor of 5 e.g. an incident that lasts 1 minute, can be remembered as lasting 5 minutes, etc. Many people are aware of the phenomena of time slowing down when they are involved in a stressful incident (Tachypsychia), and there are many reasons given for this. Studies have shown that this effect doesn’t occur in the moment, and our perception of time slowing down comes as we remember the event, afterwards. This itself can occur during an event, as we try to work out how long an incident has lasted e.g. if you find yourself taken to the ground during a fight, and you find yourself struggling with an attacker, you might wonder to yourself in that moment how long you have been fighting for, and have the feeling that you’ve been on the floor for many minutes, when you’ve actually only been down there for less than 10 seconds. This is a good reason not to think about what has happened during a fight, as a) it’s likely to be incorrect, and b) it doesn’t achieve anything – what is important is what you are doing to survive in the moment, not what went before.

The environment can also play a large part in what a witness is able to remember and recall. Some of the clubs that I have worked in had extremely low light, which drastically reduced a person’s face-recognition abilities. When you have a group of doorman, all dressed in white shirts and black trousers, with short haircuts and a common muscular build, identifying a particular individual whose face you may only have caught a glimpse of, from a distance, and in low light, becomes extremely problematic. I remember one occasion when a stag party was evicted from a club I was working at; they were removed through a side exit, and immediately returned to the main door, where I was working, to try and get back in. One of the party accused me of using excessive force when removing one of his friends. I’d been working front of house all evening, and hadn’t been involved in the incident – if he’d thought about it I wouldn’t have had the time to move through the club to the main door from where they’d been kicked out. However, he was adamant it was me, and even when the person he was talking about turned up, and identified himself, he still didn’t believe it. There’s a rule known as the “Rule of 15” that states, that under 15 lumens, and at a distance of 15 meters or more, facial recognition cannot be trusted or relied upon; in most Nightclubs, the ambient/normal light level is below this.

Most people, when they see a violent altercation, will fit what they see into their existing understanding of what violence looks like – many people don’t have an accurate reference point, if they’ve not witnessed a number of incidents. It is likely, that if they have been involved in a violent incident, this will color how they understand, make sense, and remember other violent incidents and events. If there are gaps in what they remember, it is likely that they will fill these in using their own experience(s) and/or assumptions about violence. If you are ever involved in a violent incident that goes legal, hope that there is good CCTV footage that captures the event, and that you don’t have to rely solely on what those witnessing it remember.