CHAPTER 1

Introduction: the Importance of

Investigative Interviewing

WHY DO WE NEED INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWING?

"The investigative task is the core aspect of policing today and what
emerges from that core task is the key element of the ability to interview."
(Evans & Webb, 1993, p. 37).

According to the Director of the USA National Institute of Justice:

"Information is the lifeblood of criminal investigation and it is the ability
of investigators to obtain useful and accurate information from witnesses
and victims of crime that is crucial to effective law enforcement."
(Stewart, 1985, p. 1).

Sanders (1986) asked police officers in New York: "What is the central
and most important feature of criminal investigations?" The majority
replied "Witnesses". A report written by the Rand Corporation (1975)
also noted that a major factor that determines whether or not a crime is
solved is the completeness and accuracy of the witness account. Indeed,
law enforcement personnel were found to spend as much as 85% of their
total working ti.m e talking to people. Recent research conducted in the
UK (Kebbell & Milne, 1998) asked 159 serving police officers for their
perceptions of witnesses and witness performance. The results sug-
gested that witnesses were perceived usually to provide the central leads
in criminal investigations. Thus, it can be seen that a critical component
of effective law enforcement is the ability of police officers to obtain
accurate and detailed information from witnesses.
Witness reports, however, can be incomplete, partially constructed,
unreliable and malleable (Loftus, 1979 - see Chapter 2). Huff, Rattner and
Saragin (1986) noted that, in the USA alone, there are some 3,000 cases of
judicial error due to incorrect witness testimony each year. Furthermore,
witnesses often cannot effectively communicate events to the investigating
officer. However, the police frequently have little or no other forensically
- - -
2 Investigative Interviewing

relevant evidence to guide their investigation and therefore the primary

l
source of evidence for the investigator is the witness; either victim or
bystander. Information gained from witnesses, therefore, often forms the
cornerstone of an investigation, as the reported information aids in the
planning and preparation prior to the interview with the suspect, outlines
the points to prove in the investigation and so on. Witnesses who can
report details regarding a crime improve the probability of apprehending
the suspect(s) and subsequent prosecution in court (Visher, 1987). It is the
investigator's skill as an interviewer, to enhance witnesses' reliable recall
and to facilitate communication, which is of paramount importance in
effective police work (Rand Corporation, 1975).
Recent miscarriages of justice in the UK (and other countries) have
demonstrated the devastating effects that can occur through poor inter-
viewing of suspects. Police officers themselves have noted the importance
of interviews with suspects and few serious cases exist where one or more
suspects are not interviewed (Baldwin, 1993). McGurk, Carr and McGurk
(1993) found that the interviewing of witnesses and suspects were both in
the top four of the most frequently conducted tasks in day to day policing.
Furthermore, police officers believed that their three most important
investigative duties were taking statements, interviewing witnesses and
interviewing suspects - the last of these being the most significant.
However, no substantial guidance on how to conduct appropriate inves-
tigative interviews with suspects existed anywhere in the world until the
mid-1980s and in 1986 lnbau, Reid and Buckley published their book,
Criminal Interrogation and Confessions, which recommended a number of
tactics that the police could use in an attempt to persuade a guilty person
to confess. A large number of police officers around the world adopted
these techniques; however, subsequent work by psychologists and others
(e.g. Gudjonsson, 1992, 1999; Kassin, 1997) has argued that many of the
recommended tactics may encourage false confessions. Indeed, false con-
fessions have arisen in a number of highly publicised cases. (See Chapter 6
for further discussion on false confessions).
Do the majority of police officers adequately learn how to interview
appropriately through intuition and observation of colleagues? Is it
?nly the °:1inority of officers highlighted by the media who interview
mappropr1ately?

THE POLICE INTERVIEW - WITH NO TRAINING

~o studies have attempted to define a typical police interview with "real''

witnesses. One study was conducted in the USA by Fisher Geiselman and
Raymond (1987a); the other was conducted in the UK by George (1991).
l Introduction: the Importance of lnvJ!stigative Interviewing

Fisher and colleagues examined tape-recorded interviews that cov-

ered a wide range of crime scenarios which were conducted by experi-
enced detectives (average years of service, 10.5). Even though the
3

detectives had received no standardised interview training, their inter-

views shared some commonalties. Typically the interviewer, after a
brief introduction of himself/herself, appropriately requested a free nar-
rative from the interviewee: "Tell me what happened.". However, this
"free narrative" was, on average, interrupted after only 7.5 seconds.
Furthermore, not one of the interviewees was allowed to complete the
free narrative account without interruption. This is not good interview-
ing practice as a completed free narrative phase usually elicits a sub-
stantial proportion of the total correct information gained from the
interview (Lipton, 1977; Stone & DeLuca, 1980). Interrupting the wit-
ness, and thereby not allowing the free narrative to be completed, cre-
ates the possibility that valuable information will be lost (Fisher &
Price-Roush, 1986). After being interrupted several times, the intervie-
wee will soon expect this to occur throughout the remainder of the inter-
view. Accordingly, the interviewee will tailor his or her responses by
shortening these to fit the time constraints apparently set by the inter-
viewer. Shorter responses are typically less detailed. Moreover, follow-
ing an interrupted response the interviewee is · less likely to make a
concerted effort to retrieve in a detailed manner and will instead
retrieve in a less focused way, thereby eliciting more superficial
responses (Fisher, Geiselman & Raymond, 1987) . .
Following the interrupted free-narrative the interviewees were then
subjected to an unstructured, excessive use of rapid-fire, short-answer
questions as opposed to more appropriate open-ended questions. In a
typical interview there were three open-ended questions and twenty-six
short-answer questions. Short-answer questions do not allow the inter-
viewee to give a full account, since answers to such questions involve a
less concentrated form of retrieval. This type of retrieval strategy was
adopted as the interviewers typically allowed only a second after each of
the interviewee's responses before asking another question. This swift
questioning style does not allow the witness to collect his or her
thoughts and, as a consequence, does not lend itself well to elaborate
retrieval.
The above study found that the interviewers created the structure of
the interview. The interviewees were passive in this regard, which is not
helpful to effective retrieval. In addition, interviewers may forget to ask
certain questions, or, they may not realise that certain relevant ques-
tions may be asked regarding unusual but useful information, which
they could not anticipate. Such unique information may provide the key
to the solution of a crime. Fisher, Geiselman and Raymond (1987) found
 Investigative Interviewing
~4- - - ~~ ~~ _ _ : : - . -~ ~ - -
. · to facilitate the witnesses' remem- ,
that little or no as s1st anc_e was _give~s adopted their own questioning ,
. cesscs · Thef mterviewe •ted to the interviewees ' menta1 repre- .·
bermg pro
seque~ce, which was otten 1,h.unsm
type of questioning sty1e is . not l'kI ely to .·
sentations of the·1 even
bl . formation interviewees o concermng the to- · ,
· is · h ld ·
reach all thbe avda(1TaBRe)1:vent Memory can be likened to a filing cabinet
be-remem. • ere fil bout · the TBR event. If interviewers
· · as k ques-
contammg many 1 es a f fi
• · th · wn order then interviewees have to go rom one 1le to
tions m · eir o
a sequence .
dictated by the interviewers, but t h'is sequence·
ano th er m h · d h ·
may well not be the way in which interviewees ave orgamse t . e1r
files. (See Chapters 3, 4 and 5 for further comments on appropriate
interviewing behaviour.) ·
Three types of inappropriate questioning were observed. Many of the
interviewers asked questions about the perpetrators(s) in a predeter-
mined manner. This sequence, although in agreement with the required
format of the final written report, is unlikely to be compatible with an
interviewee's representation of the TBR event. Often the interviewers \
asked follow-up questions in a delayed fashion, thereby interrupting tg,e
witness's recollection of the next part of the event. This was sometimes ,'.
attributable to the interviewer being unable to match his or her con-
temporaneous note-taking rate with the witness's speech rate . .This
form of questioning again disrupts the interviewee's train of thought.
The type of questioning used was often found to be unsuitable and
the following problems frequently occurred. The questions often had
negative phraseology: "You don't know his name do you?" This implies
that the interviewer believes that the interviewee does not know •the .
answers to the questions and subsequently discourages the interview~e
from remembering in a concentrated way and produces a large amount
of "I don't know" responses. Also there was a large number .of non-
neutrally (le~ding/~isleading) worded questions, which imply,. the
answer t_o the mterv~ewee. ~his question type has a tendency to elicit an
affirmative and can Jeopardise the interviewee's recollection of the TBR
~~n{ (e.g. Loftus, 1979) - see Chapters 2 and 3 for more on questioning.
int:u:::::i~:;:~~l;i:: :~r~for~al and st~lised. It was often beyond
terms. This st 1 fl t e witness and mcludedjargon and techn1c
viewee and in[ e ? anguage tends to form a barrier between the inter·
or reticent int:~::::: a~:;ould be harmful, especially with an anxi~us
could make the wit · gemental comments often occurred, which
potential leads Theness dt~fensive. There was a lack of follow-UP of
· ques ions d d't rY
cues (i.e. questions relat' un eremphasised the use of au l o
interviews led to a loss to.;hat ~he witnesses heard), which in s?Jlle
were often subiect to ·d. t avta_i able mformation. Finally the interviews
J is rac ions. '
 Introduction: the Importance of Investigative Interviewing 5

The witnesses also proved to be a limiting factor in a number of the

interviews. Frequently, witnesses had poor verbal skills or were into,o-
cated, and were often in an anxious state, especially if the interviews
were conducted immediately after the crime. This leads to the next
problem which concerns the logistics of the interview. Most interviews
were conducted immediately after the crime. Thus, not only were a
number of interviews conducted with an anxious witness, but the inter-
viewer also did not have control over a number of other important fac-
tors, such as the presence of other witnesses, curious bystanders, time
available for the interview, and other necessary police matters to which
the interviewing officer had to attend. Finally, other investigative
requirements of the police interview also could have reduced witness
recollection. For example, the interviewer typically interrupted a wit-
ness_who digressed, to bring the witness back into line with the prede-
termined set of questions which were conjured up to prove the
interviewer's predetermined hypotheses.
There e,osts a limited amount of knowledge concerning the way in
which British police officers actually interview witnesses and victims.
George (1991) conducted a study of police officers with at least five
years' service whose current duties included interviewing witnesses and
victims. All interviewers tape-recorded three witness interviews, and
one of these was randomly selected for analysis. George (1991) found
there to be a common witness interviewing approach by these officers
regarding both the content and the conduct of the interview. This
occurred despite the differences among the crimes committed and the
witnesses interviewed. Closed and extension/clarification questions pre-
dominated, with more leading questions than open-ended questions
being used. Pauses were almost non-existent. The amount of informa-
tion elicited was similar across interviewers with 2.6 to 3.2 pieces of
information gained per question asked. These police officers were nei-
ther interviewing appropriately nor obtaining the maximum informa-
tion available from the witnesses (Clifford & George, 1996). (For more
on this study, see Chapter 5).
The majority of the poor interviewing skills described above have also
been evident in police interviews with suspects (see Chapter 5 for fur-
ther discussion). In one of the first published studies ·examining the
police interviewing of suspects (Irving, 1980) it was found that the inter-
viewers used a variety of persuasive and manipulative tactics in an
attempt to persuade the guilty to confess. The use of such inappropriate
tactics, however, was found to decrease after the introduction of the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE, 1984) which provided legisla-
tion relating to the police interviewing of suspects (Irving & McKenzie,
1989; see Zander, 1990, for more on PACE).
~-----_:~~-------------
6 Investigative Interviewing

It was not until the advent of the audio and video (in som~ cases) record.
ing of interviews with suspec~s that_researchers coul~ examme more easily
what actually occurred in an interview room. Bald~n (1?93, p. 333) found
that in only 20 of the 600 interviews that he examined did the
"suspects change their story in the cour~e of the interview. In ~nly nine of
these cases was the change of heart attributable to th~ persuasive skills of
the interviewer ... The great majority of suspects stick to their starting
position."
Baldwin concluded that police interview training should therefore be re-
focused from the concept of persuading a denying suspect to confess to
that of being an evidence gatherer (i.e. obtaining a wide range and v~.
ety of evidence rather than purely seeking to obtain a confession). (See
Chapter 5 for further comment).
McConville and Hodgson (1993) examined the nature of the questions
used by interviewers when interviewing suspects. It was found that lead-
ing questions were used in 20% of the interviews and that legal closure
questions were used even more frequently (i.e. 36%). It is these types of
questions that may be associated with unreliable or false confessions (see
Chapter 6). Moston, Stephenson and Williamson (1992) found that in the
interviews with suspects which they listened to (several hundred tape
recordings), the majority of interviewers spent little time, if any, trying to
obtain the interviewees' accounts of events. Instead, the interviewers
spent their time accusing the interviewees of the offence. This interview
behaviour is unlikely to attain maximum co-operation from interviewees·,
unless the evidence against them is strong (see Chapters 4 and 5).
Williamson (1993) reported that Moston et al. found the actual question·
ing style of the interviewers to be quite poor, with many interviews being
unstructured. Similarly, Pearse and Gudjonsson (1996c) found that
although interviewers almost always used open-ended questions (98%)
they also often used leading questions (73%).
The situation in the USA, however, is one where "manipulation and
deception have replaced force and direct coercion" (Leo, 1992, p. 35).
Le~ also noted that "The goal of the interrogation is to create a psycho- 43
logical atmosphere that will facilitate the act of confessing" (p. ).
Unfortunately, in this situation an innocent person may falsely confess.
(See Chapters 5 and 6).

CURRENT INTERVIEW GUIDELINES IN THE UK

~f n~::i_~er of of!ki•l inquiries (e.g. Clyde, 1992) and the introducti?:

o- and video-recorded interviews with suspects and ch1l
 Introduction: the Importance of Investigative Interviewing 7

witnesses/victims led the police service in the UK to introduce training

to equip police officers to interview appropriately. In 1992 two
Investigative Interviewing Booklets (CTPU, 1992a 1992b) wer~ dis-
tributed to all police officers in England and Wal~s by the Central
Planning Unit (under the auspices of the Home Office and the
Association of Chief Police Officers). In 1993 the "National Package
on Investigative Interview Training" commenced. This is a one-week
course aimed at training police officers to interview suspects and wit-
nesses (see Chapter 9 for training issues). Primarily two techniques
are incorporated into this package: conversation management
(Chapter 4) and the cognitive interview (Chapter 3).

AIMS OF THE PRESENT BOOK

The major purpose of this book is to provide a concise, practical guide to

investigative interviewing based on psychological theory and research.
The book aims to explain why certain guidelines should be followed and
describes the underlying rationale for the investigative interviewing of
any person, whether a suspect, witness, victim, complainant, or col-
league. The book outlines what psychologists presently know about the
most effective ways of interviewing witnesses/victims and suspects of all
ages, including vulnerable groups.
The authors' recent visits to a variety of countries around the world
failed to unearth any substantial national or regional guidance docu-
ments on investigative interviewing. While much of the guidance
:r:eviewed in this book emanates from England and Wales, we have also
mentioned a considerable number of relevant research publications
from around the world. Although the major focus of this book is inves-
tigative interviews conducted by police officers, the research, theory and
discussion are applicable to investigative interviews conducted by any
professionals. We know from our experience of advising other groups of
investigative interviewers (e.g. internal investigators in the banking
sector, insurance fraud investigators, arson investigators, social work-
ers, lawyers, educational psychologists and clinical psychologists) that
the contents of this book are vefy appropriate to them.
The other chapters of this book will now be briefly outlined.
Chapter 2 focuses on recollection; it outlines the relevant theory and
the variables which affect the way in which people remember. At the
outset it explains that the process of attaining reliable witness reports is
beset with difficulty. The information about the event has to endure an
obstacle course involving fallible witness memory processes, the diffi-
culties associated with interviewing, and the problems concerning the
 '
Investigative Interviewing
II
•t If A brief overview is given regarding th
statement ·t king process 1 seIt .·s important for interviewers
. . to und e
nature of w~tn~ss me~;: \n order to realise the importance oft~~
0
stand the prmc1pleds o to beryoutlined in the following chapters. What
. • wing proce ures . • f h
~nterv1eo ? The chapter starts with a descript10n o w _at constitutes
is mem ry .d ti· es some of the many causes of forgettmg. The chap.
t then an
memory ou 10a variety of issues surround"mg memory £or comple)(
discusses
er . 11 crime scenarios (e.g. an armed robbery). Issues dis.
events, .espec1a
I de· wiy·tness/victim factors which. auec
n- t
memory (e.g. alcohol
cussed me u • .olence)· factors present at t he m · t erview · whi ch affect'
stress an d even t eVi constructive
, . £
nature of memory, m erences, stereo.
memory (e. g. th . ( .
types and context effects); and ~uestioning strateg1es ~ppropnate_~d
inappropriate question types). Fmally the chapter explams the falhbili-
ties of the interviewer and his or her memory processes. . . .
Chapter 3 outlines and examines the e~cacy of t~e c?gnitive mterview.
The cognitive interview is one of the techruqu~s which is taught as part of
the police investigative interviewing package _m ~ngl~d arid W~es, and
is aimed primarily for interviewing co-operative interviewees (witnesses,
victims and suspects). The technique is described in this chapter in detail
and the description of it is organised into seven phases: (i) greet and rap-
port, (ii) interview aims, (iii) initiating a free report, (iv) questioning, (v)
varied and extensive retrieval, (vi) summary, and (vii) closure. Research
examining the efficacy of the cognitive interview is then described. This
chapter closes with a discussion of the applicability of the cognitive inter-
view to the "field" (e.g. how effective is it as a tool for police officers to
interview real interviewees?). Certain applied questions which have been
raised by practitioners over the past five years are examined (e.g. the ther-
apeutic nature of the cognitive interview, and how effective the cognitive
interview is in detecting deception). Legal implications of the cognitive
interview are also discussed.
Chapter 4 describes conversation management, the second main
method of interviewing which is presently taught as part of the inves-
tigative interviewing package in England and Wales. This chapter firstly
gives a general interpretation of conversation management. The remain-
der of the chapter concerns the elements of the interview process and is
subdivided into three sections: (i) pre-interview behaviour (ii) within-
interview behaviour, and (iii) post-interview behaviour. The first of these
sections (pre-i~terview behaviour) starts with a discussion of the impor-
tance of planm~g and preparation (including scripts, premature closure,
confi~atory bias, and defensive avoidance) and describes a method for
a~al~si~g an~ assimilating investigative evidence (SE3R). The section on
withm-mternew .behaVI·our, as 1·ts t"tl .
i e suggests, constitutes . •
a d1scuss1on
of the psychological and social aspects of communication within four
 Introduction: the Importance of Investigative Interviewing 9

interview phases: (i) greeting, (ii) explaining, (iii) mutual activity and (iv)
closure (G~MAC). E~ch o~thes~ four phases is examined in turn. Finally,
post-intemew behaVIour 1s reVIewed.
Chapter 5 discusses the research published to date which examines
the question: "What actually happens in police interviews?" The chap-
ter begins by looking at public opinion of police interviews (i.e. what the
public believes to transpire in an interview room). The chapter then
describes what research has found actually to occur in police interviews.
The issue of confession evidence is discussed and whether (or not) sus-
pects can be persuaded to confess within an interview via the use of tac-
tics. The chapter also contains a section on the interviewing and
vulnerabilities of juveniles. The chapter finishes with an examination of
specialist investigative interviewing and the "special" skills required by
such interviewers.
Chapter 6, entitled "False testimony", draws upon three areas of
research and theory - suggestibility, recovered memories, and false con-
fessions - in an attempt to explain why people erroneously report events.
It is argued that the majority of cases of recovered memories and false
confessions arise primarily through inappropriate questioning and inter-
viewing behaviour. The first section, concerning suggestibility, describes
how such effects arise (e.g. reconstructive processes, leading and mislead-
ing questions, and the misinformation effect) and the theories posed to
explain the underlying mechanisms for such effects. The second section
discusses a relatively new topic which arose in the early 1980s in the USA:
the recovered memory debate. The issues surrounding the debate are dis-
cussed and research demonstrating how false memories can be implanted
is described. The final section in this chapter, i.e. false confessions, starts
with an examination of the interrogation techniques thought to give rise
to false confessions and outlines the reasons for three primary types of
false confessions: (i) voluntary false confessions, (ii) coerced-compliant
false confessions and (iii) coerced-internalised false confessions.
Chapter 7 looks at the most appropriate methods of interviewing vul-
nerable people to attain the maximum quality and quantity of informa-
tion. This chapter firstly outlines the opinions of practitioners who
strive to obtain justice for vulnerable groups (e.g. people with learning
disability) and notes how the criminal justice system can be changed to
allow greater access. The limited research which examines the most
appropriate methods of interviewing vulnerable people is then
described, including training issues, police interviewing, question types
and interviewing techniques. The issue of false confessions and vulner-
able interviewees is also examined here.
Chapter 8 focuses on interviewing children. At the outset it gives an
overview of the history behind the present guidelines for interviewing
 Investigative Interviewing
10

children in the UK: the Memorandum ~f good practice (Bull, 1993,

1996). The research and theory u~derlymg the recommendations is
then outlined, specifically that wh1c~ conce~ns the most. appropriate
ways of questioning children. New, innovative w~ys for interviewing
children, currently being researched,. ar~ also ~escribed. Th?se methods
include the applicability of the cognitive interview for use with children
the use of revisiting the scene of the crime, and the use of non-verbai
assistance (e.g. props and drawings).
Chapter 9 focuses on interview training and advanced investigative
interviewing courses. The importance of training for developing the
skills necessary for appropriate interviewing is emphasised. The chap-
ter then provides a brief history of the development of police investiga-
tive interview training in the UK. This leads to a description of 7the
present UK interview package (PEACE) which is described within 'the
five subheadings which constitute the mnemonic PEACE: (i) planning
and preparation, (ii) engage and explain, (iii) account, (iv) closure.and
(v) evaluate. Research which has examined the transference of skills
taught on the PEACE course is outlined. Police officers' perceptions and
actual use of the skills learnt on such courses is examined. The chapter
then focuses on the objectives, design, resources and methods of
advanced investigative interviewing courses. .
Chapter 10 presents conclusions and ideas for future developments.
Comments regarding the marrying of recent psychological research to
real-life investigative interviewing (e.g. in the police setting) are made.
Recommendations regarding investigative interviewing are given, as
are some insights into ongoing research which will be relevant to inves-
tigative interviewing. In addition, this chapter raises some important
questions which future research should address.