NCJ Number
104161
Date Published
1986
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Because good communicative skills and interviewing are essential to police work, an interview development unit for police has been established in Liverpool, England.
Abstract
The unit is devoted to providing training in investigative interviewing and iterative research into all aspects of interviewing. Courses use experimental learning, microteaching, and video-recording techniques. The 2-week, residential course is comprised of 30 percent theory. Practical interviewing accounts for 60 percent of the course. The course uses role-playing exercises and a facilitative approach to the interviewing process. Emphasis is on improving the officer's ability to assess personality, monitor changes in psychological state, derive an initial account, detect inconsistencies within and between accounts, and use the quality of the relationship with the interviewee to cope with emergent resistance and inconsistency. Research conducted by the unit has focused on listening; comprehension; and the detection of truth, evasion, and deception. 6 references.