Advanced Interviewing Techniques

Law enforcement officers face difficult challenges in light of the new social environment in which they must work. With additional public scrutiny on police tactics and interviewing methods, new techniques must be developed to address the changing political and social landscape. Interviewing and interrogating methods must change in concert with the increased focus on community policing and the public demand to take a softer approach to interviewing and interrogation. The new edition of this book presents positive interviewing techniques to conduct less intrusive, non-threatening interviews and interrogations without forfeiting investigative integrity. Positive interviewing techniques focus on rapport building, which serves as the keystone for successful interviews. and interrogations. Suspects and witnesses who like the people who are interviewing them are more likely to confess or provide information of value. Positive interviewing relies on psychological principles instead of threats and coercion to obtain needed information. The psychological principles presented in this book derive from proven psychological research and have been proven effective in the field. As with the previous book editions, this edition was written with working professionals in mind and contains advanced interviewing techniques. Some basic topics emphasized in other interviewing books will not be addressed. This book was designed as a quick reference guide rather than a comprehensive manual. The enhanced outline format of the text and the extended Table of Contents provide for easy reference, reading, and comprehension. The marketplace is replete with interviewing books and manuals; however, quickly locating information buried in thick manuscripts is costly and time-consuming. The style of this book is consistent with the manner in which law enforcement officers like to receive information: quickly, authoritatively, and to the point.

This book presents advanced interviewing techniques for law enforcement, military, and security personnel. "Effective communication with a purpose" is the core of the interviewing process. This book expands on interviewers' communication skills to build their repertoire of interviewing techniques. The first three chapters describe the importance of interview planning, the interview setting, and the use of props to facilitate interviews. Chapter 1 cautions that while many interviews do not take the time to plan for interviews, the planning process is critically important to the outcome of the interview. Chapter 2 discusses the physical space in which the interview will be conducted, as well as seating arrangements and chair placement. Chapter 3 describes the most appropriate use of props, such as certificates and awards, as well as case files and security cameras. The next four chapters focus on establishing effective communication and how to illicit information under legal constraints. Chapter 4 describes how to evaluate interviewees in terms of their general attributes, their behaviors, clothes, accessories, personality traits, or mental illnesses. Chapter 5 focuses on how the interviewer can establish dominance within the interview relationship, in both controlled and uncontrolled interview environments, and chapter 6 provides tips on establishing rapport. Chapter 7 discusses how to use Miranda warnings as a positive interviewing tool to enhance the interview environment and increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. The next three chapters discuss deception and how to detect deception in interviewees through verbal and nonverbal cues. Chapter 8 cautions that the only certain method of discerning the truth is careful corroboration of the evidence, however several tips are offered for deception detection, including the Four-Domain Model. Chapter 9 presents nonverbal behaviors that indicate deception, while chapter 10 focuses on the verbal cues that may signal deception. Chapter 11 presents tools that interviewers may rely on to overcome interviewee resistance and chapter 12 describes techniques to overcome the interview impasse. Finally, chapter 13 underscores the importance of the oft-ignored end of the interview and offers strategies for effective endings.

Despite the obvious importance of eyewitness information in criminal investigation, police receive surprisingly little instruction on how to conduct an effective interview with a cooperative eyewitness. More than half of police departments have no formal training whatsoever for newly appointed investigators. Most texts in police science either completely omit the issue of effective interviewing techniques or provide only superficial coverage. This manual provides guiding principles to effective interviewing, with specific techniques to be used and others to be avoided. There are principles of memory retrieval so that the reader will understand why to employ specific techniques -- for example, when to use open-ended versus direct short-answer questions, effective use of pauses, asking follow-up questions, cues to name and number recall, etc. There is the strategy of interview sequential structure -- that is, what to probe for at the beginning, middle, and end of the interview. Also included are practical exercises and real-world experiences. The book will also be helpful for attorneys in conducting investigative interviews.

Effective Interviewing and Interrogation Techniques, Second Edition, is completely revised and updated so as to cover all the information a student needs to know to obtain answers from a witness, a victim, or a suspect and how to interpret these answers with the utmost accuracy. Building on the previous edition’s ground-breaking search for truth in criminal and non-criminal investigations, this book contains five new chapters which include coverage of false confessions, interviewing the mentally challenged, and the ethics of interrogation in a post 9/11 world. This new edition includes highly illustrated chapters with topics ranging from the psycho-physiological basis of the forensic assessment to preparation for the interview/interrogation; question formulation; projective analysis of unwitting verbal clues; interviewing children and the mentally challenged; and pre-employment interviewing. Also included are several model worksheets and documents, case studies, and complete instructions for using the authors’ Integrated Interrogation Technique, a 10-point, highly successful approach to obtaining confessions that can stand up in court. The book concludes with an insightful look at the future of truth verification. This book will be of benefit to attorneys, coroners, detectives, educators, forensic psychophysiologists (lie detection), human resource professionals, intelligence professionals, and investigators as well as journalists/authors, jurists, medical professionals, psychological professionals, researchers, and students. - Expanded coverage of Statement Analysis, including actual statements from real cases. - New photos to aid in assessing nonverbal behavior. - Added section on assessment of written statements.

Easy-to-read and practical, this text uses a survey approach and numerous examples to illustrate interviewing skills and techniques. Using his years of experience as an instructor at the FBI Academy, the author dispels some of the mystery surrounding the interview process by sharing techniques and ideas that have been used successfully. The author has years of experience as an FBI academy instructor.