Interview and Interrogation
Course Objectives
• Difference between Interview and
Interrogation
• How to conduct an interview
• Eyewitness ID procedures
• How to conduct an interrogation
• Electronic recording requirements
• Factors that lead to false confessions
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Introduction
How are interviews and interrogations
different? Similar?
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•
Interviews
Victims and Witnesses
• Goal is to find out as much info as possible
• Put the victim or witness at ease
• Friendly, loosely structured, and nonconfrontational
• Focus is to get person to tell you what
happened
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• Suspects
Interrogations
• Goal is to establish the suspect’s guilt
• Controlled and Directed
• May involve the suspect at a psychological
disadvantage
• You must advise suspect of legal rights
Both are a search for the truth!
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Good Interviewers Are:
• Inquisitive
• Observant
• Energetic
• Good Communicators
• Problem Solvers
• Patient
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Interviews
• Process begins when you arrive at the scene.
• ID victims and witnesses and separate them.
• Interview them.
• Goal is to get information about crime.
• Corroborate information with evidence.
• How you interview is important.
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Sequence of Interviews
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Preparation and Planning
• Planning – the mental process of getting ready
to interview someone.
• Preparation – considering what needs to be
made ready prior to conducting the interview
(location, environment, administration of
interview).
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Preparation and Planning
• Know your agency policy and guidelines.
• Locate all info, details, and actions to date.
• May need to provide support for victim.
• Interview format.
• Control environment
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Engage and Explain - Goals
• Introduce yourself.
• Encourage victim/witness to take an active
role.
• Set the tone for the interview.
• Explain what is going to happen and what you
need from victim/witness.
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Minimize Anxiety and Establish Rapport
• Introduce yourself; shake hands if appropriate
• Speak calmly and slowly
• Keep language simple
• Ask how person wants to be referred to (name,
title and name, etc.)
• Use person’s name during interview
• Address any concerns or needs
• Reassure person
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Convey that Info is Important
• Tell the victim what he/she has to say is important.
• Valued people will talk more.
• Encourage person to tell you everything they know,
even if it seems trivial.
• Tell person to ask you if he or she doesn’t
understand something.
• Take your time and be patient.
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Addressing the Victim/Witness
• Elderly / People with professional titles
• Use person’s name not “victim” or “witness”
• Watch person’s non-verbals
• Document quotes
• Electronically record statements?
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Explain the Process
• Explain the interview process.
• Express your expectations.
• Remind person you will be taking notes.
• Afterwards, you may ask follow-up questions or
ask person to repeat all, or part, for clarification.
• Summarize what was said to check interpretation.
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Account Clarification and Challenge
• Goals:
– Obtain person’s uninterrupted account.
– Expand and clarify his/her account.
• Let person describe what happened ( with no
interruptions).
• Just listen the first time through.
• Go through account as many times as necessary.
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Account Clarification and Challenge
• Do not interrupt
• Allow pauses
• Use active listening
skills
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Questions
• Use open-ended questions.
• Avoid leading questions.
• Attempt to put a time-frame around event.
• Do not ask if willing to testify in court.
• Do not expect person to have same
observation skills as officers.
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• Who?
Questions
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?
• How Much?
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Closure Goals
• Do not rush the closing.
• Agree on what was said.
• Is that all?
• What will happen now?
• Keep lines of communication open.
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Closure
• Review your notes.
• Double-check understanding.
• “Is there anything else I should know?”
• Close the interview.
– Encourage victim to contact you.
– Instruct victim to avoid discussing details.
– Thank victim/witness for cooperating.
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Evaluation
• Objectives achieved?
• Review the investigation in light of the
information from interview.
• Reflect on interview and consider how to
improve in the future.
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Documenting Interviews
• Take good notes.
• Consider recording interviews.
• Local DA’s office can advise you.
• Follow agency policy and procedure.
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•
Types
of
Victims
and
Witnesses
Friendly
• Neutral
• Interested
• Hostile
• Child
• Vulnerable
• Traumatized
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Credibility Assessment
• Physical mannerisms
• Credibility of his or her story
• Appropriateness of conduct
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•
Maintaining
Contact
May need to contact victim/witness again
• May need to spend time building rapport
again
• Review info you have and ask for new info
• Do not provide info from other sources
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Eyewitness Identification
• Often provides the best lead
• However, primary cause of wrongful
conviction
• The accuracy of eyewitness evidence is based
on the procedures used to collect it
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General Principles of Memory
• We do not capture exact images in our
memory
• The brain rebuilds the memory of a witnessed
event
• Eyewitnesses can be led to remember things
they did not actually see
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•
Initial
Interviews
Focus on keeping actual memory separate
from other sources of information
• Avoid questions that suggest something
specific
• Avoid giving positive feedback to witness
• Keep witnesses from discussing incident with
each other
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Factors that Affect Perception
• Light, distance and length of viewing
• “Weapon focus” phenomenon
• Race
• Stress
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Photo Arrays and Live Lineups
• Select non-suspect fillers
• Use a “double-blind” procedure
• Show witnesses photo arrays or lineups one at
a time (sequentially) rather than all at once
(simultaneously)
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•
Photo
Arrays
and
Live
Lineups
Tell witness real suspect may or may not be in
photo array or lineup
• Assess eyewitness
confidence
• Avoid multiple
identification
procedures
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•
Show-Ups
Determine if the procedure is necessary
• Can it be done close to the crime in both time
and space?
• Photo arrays and lineups are more reliable
• If probable cause to arrest suspect – no showup
• State v. Dubose
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Show-Ups
• Obtain the best verbal description of the
suspect
• Minimize the suggestiveness of the procedure
• Instruct the eyewitness may or may not be the
actual perpetrator
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•
Facial
Composites
When there’s no suspect
• Use them cautiously
• Can taint the eyewitness’s
memory
• Use a double-blind procedure
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Suspect Interrogations
• More formal and controlled
• Interrogator controls and directs interrogation
• Is structured
• Interrogator may need to be a good actor
• Goal is to establish the truth
• Custodial questioning requires Miranda
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Interrogator Controls Interrogation
• You have the psychological advantage in an
interrogation
• Controlled
environment
• Emotional or
Non-Emotional
Suspect?
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•
Structure
and
Acting
Compile a list of questions prior to the
interrogation
• Structure your questions to elicit information
• Be flexible, sincere, patient, persistent, and
confident
• Not all good interviewers make good
interrogators
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Interrogation Goals
• To establish the truth
• Guilty or innocent?
• Interrogation preparation takes time
• Must show guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
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Sequence of Interrogations
INTERROGATIONS
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Preparation and Planning
• Gather as much information as possible
• The more info you have, the more control you
have
• The time invested will improve your
confidence, ability and save time
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The Interrogation Environment
• The interrogation room
• Number of interrogators
• Non-verbal behavior
• Verbal behavior
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•
Engage
and
Explain
Introduce yourself
• Encourage suspect to provide you with info
• Set the tone
• Explain what is going to happen and
expectations you have of suspect
• Try to build rapport
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Account Clarification and Challenge
• First question is vital
• Obtain suspects own uninterrupted account
• Expand and clarify suspect’s account
• Challenge suspect’s account when necessary
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Closure
• Review your notes and other materials
• Ask the suspect if there is anything he or she
wants to add
• Close the interrogation
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Evaluation
• Objectives met?
• Review the investigation in light of
information obtained
• Reflect on how well you conducted the
interrogation
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Recording Custodial Questioning
• Custodial questioning requires Miranda
• Electronically recording custodial questioning
• Miranda = Recording
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Recommendations
• Begin recording
at the start of the contact until
questioning ends
• Audiovisual recording preferred
• Agencies should have written policy
• Document questioning and get written statement
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•
Exceptions
Recording devices may not work / none
available
• Officer fails to operate device properly
• Device may malfunction
• Person makes spontaneous statements
• Suspect may refuse to speak
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While Recording
• Speak clearly and distinctly
• Ensure answers are audible and clear
• Describe non-verbal actions by suspect
• Statements only admissible if made voluntarily
• Not required to tell suspect anything about the questioning
• Remember, suspect is innocent until guilt is proven in court
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Types of Suspects
• Two general categories:
– Emotional Offender
– Non-Emotional Offender
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Non-Emotional Offender
• More hardened criminals with experience in
criminal justice system
• Do not like to talk and will try to control their
verbal and non-verbal communication
• Methods: Question and answer, narrative,
alibi, factual, good/bad cop, retelling
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•
Resistance
from
Suspects
Anticipate resistance – have a plan
• Goal is to gain info or confession – not a power
struggle
• Use your knowledge of the case to your advantage
• Anticipate suspects responses and have a plan
• Read the suspect and find triggers that cause him or
her to talk
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•
False
Confessions
Dispositional Factors
• Situational Factors
– Personality
characteristics
– Physical custody
– Isolation
– Youth
– Confrontation
– Intellectual impairment
– Minimization
– Psychopathology
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Summary
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QUESTIONS?
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