On December 14th, 1999 at 6:00 PM, a man who presented himself as "Benni Noris" attempted to enter the United States from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in a rented vehicle aboard the ferry motor vessel "Coho" at the Port Angeles, Washington port of entry. His was the last car to board the ferry, and when U.S. Customs Inspector Diana Dean, the primary interviewing officer, handed him the standard declarations form, she noticed that Noris was "acting in a nervous and strange manner while answering routine questions." He was asked to exit the vehicle, and did so reluctantly only after several requests. He opened the trunk for examination while Inspector Mark Johnson stood next to him, holding both his shoulders by the coat. When Inspectors Dan Clem and Mike Chapman discovered 118 pounds of urea crystals, 14 pounds of sulfate powder, 48 ounces of nitroglycerine, and four timing devices in the vehicle's trunk, Noris slipped out of his jacket and fled on foot. After a chaotic foot chase, Noris attempted to carjack another vehicle but was captured by Johnson and Chapman just five blocks away. Noris was later identified as Ahmed Ressam, an alleged associate of Osama Bin Laden and now infamous as the "Millennium Bomber," a terrorist intent on blowing up Los Angeles International Airport during the 1999-2000 New Year's travel season.
At the time of Ressam's arrest, the mainstream media made little mention of Diana Dean and the other inspectors; most called the discovery of Ressam's plot "lucky." However, in March of 2002 the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America awarded Dean and her team the "Unsung Hero Award" at its annual conference, recognizing that it was Dean's initial "hunch" that caused the rest of the team to be alerted to Ressam and his contraband. Some have called that hunch "experience," others have called it "women's intuition." Dean herself called it "acting on instinct."
Why men don't listen and women can't read maps
As we talk about in our "Career Survival" courses, women's intuition is actually a female's highly developed ability to be able to read body language. Barbara and Allan Pease talk about this phenomenon in their many books on male/female communication, includingWhy Men Don't Listen and Why Women Can't Read Maps.The Peases confirmed during a 1978 study that women read body language, especially facial expressions, much more accurately than men. This doesn't mean men aren't paying attention, it means they are focused on different things.
When a man and a woman enter a room, the female will immediately notice the people in the room–who is happy, who is not, which couples are not getting along, who is trying to score with who, who is tired, who doesn't want to be there. The male will scan the room, unconsciously noting the entrances and exits, then he will look for familiar faces and potential enemies; he will notice a burnt-out light bulb or a loose piece of flooring. Why? Because both male and female brains are hard-wired to look for and react to different stimuli.
Think about it: back in the caveman days, what were men and women doing? A male spent most of his time trying to protect his territory and provide his family with food. Sometimes he had to travel long distances during a hunt; he had to be acutely aware of who his friends were and who might try to harm him. He had to know how to fight, how to navigate and how to escape. A female was keeping the home cave fires burning. She was watching the children, foraging for other food, like berries and such, and trying to get along with everyone. "Getting along," or avoiding conflict, was essential to her survival, and one of the best ways to avoid conflict is to know how to read people. Reading people is also essential to officer safety and survival, and comes in really handy during an investigation.
"His eyes were dead"
"He looked at me and his eyes were dead," Diana Dean has said of Ahmed Ressam. "It was just a chilling chilling chilling feeling. It was like looking at a person who was not there…his eyes were just flat." The difference between Diana Dean and many other women is that she had learned to take advantage of her "women's intuition." In Gavin DeBecker's outstanding bookThe Gift of Fear,he tells story after compelling story of women who ignored their "gut feeling" that a situation or a person was dangerous, only to become the victims of violence. In today's society, menandwomen often talk themselves out of listening to their intuition, not wanting to appear rude or paranoid, but cops can hardly afford to do that; in fact, we need to becomeexpertsat reading people and confident in our ability to trust our instincts and act on what we're not only seeing, but;feeling.
I know it's not politically correct to say this, but the learning curve on this is going to be different for men than it is for women.Generally speaking,a woman will have an advantage over a man when it comes to reading people. This is not anecdotal nonsense, this is science. According to many noted researchers, including Dr. Louann Brizendine, M.D., author ofThe Female Brain,women's brains are hard-wired from birth to be more aware of other people's body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice, especially as these relate to what other people may be feeling. This doesnotmean men are born to be uncaring, inattentive jerks, it just means that they are hard-wired to key into different things. Brain scans will show that men are much more spatial than women. The spatial part of the brain is used for estimating distances, speeds and angles…it's the "hunting brain." Again, going back to the caveman days, men didn't need to know how the mastodonfeltabout getting killed; he just needed to know how to kill it quickly and safely.
If you're a woman, tap into that natural ability you have to read people. Make sure you haven't taught yourself to ignore your gut, and learn to react properly to not only what you're seeing but what you're feeling. If you're a man, take the time to study body language awareness and male/female brain function; read the books, take the classes. The Force Science Institute's groundbreaking study of cop killers tells us this: "In the world of police work, it's often best to assume the worst." By trusting her instincts and her intuition, Inspector Diana Dean undoubtedly saved thousands of lives. By learning to read people and trusting yourself to be right, you may one day save your own.
