NCJ Number
189272
Journal
International Journal of Police Science and Management Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: Spring 2001 Pages: 199-212
Date Published
2001
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes police officers’ perceptions of specialist investigative interviewing skills
Abstract
In England and Wales, 81 police officers experienced in specialist investigative interviewing (SII) were given questionnaires. Results were analyzed to determine which skills they thought were important in specialist investigative interviewing, and which were present or missing in police officers in general and in their own work. “Listening” was considered to be the most important skill in SII. All of the other skills listed in the questionnaire, including preparation, questioning, knowledge of subject, flexibility, open-mindedness, rapport, and compassion and empathy, were described as “very important” or “important.” Generally, the officers believed that all of the listed skills could be improved upon, “preparation,” “open-mindedness,” and “flexibility” were the skills which were most often missing in police officers who conducted SII (though the officers did not consider these to be missing in their own work). Police officers believed the success of an investigative interview to be reliant on the preparation, which then allowed the interviewer to go into the interview confident and in possession of relevant information. While planning and preparation of the interview was believed by officers experienced at SII to be the main determinant of interview quality, paradoxically this was deemed by such officers as being the skill most lacking in specialist investigative interviewing. 1 figure, 5 tables, and 31 references.