INTERVIEW AND INTERROGATION APPROACH

By:
PLTCOL GIDEON T INES JR
LESSON GOAL

The participants will gain an understanding of the

correct procedure and legal parameters for interviewing
and interrogating suspect/s of a crime under
investigation;
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, participants will be able to:

1. Discuss the interview and interrogation of suspects as
information gathering which will be used to aid the law
enforcers in investigations;
2. Explain the difference between interrogation and
investigation; and
3. Understand the interrogation techniques and dealing with
CICL
INTERROGATION APPROACH

 Bachelor of Science in Criminology

 Registered Criminologist
 Deputy Chief of Police, Mandaluyong CPS
 PSBRC 1997 Kaakibat
 Lateral Entry 2006 Bagong Tanglaw

PLTCOL GIDEON T INES JR  Investigation Officer Basic Course

 Criminal Investigation and Detective Development
Course
 Public Safety Criminal Investigation Supervisory
Course
 Modern Techniques in Criminal Investigation
 Instructor Development Course
 Human Resource and Management Officers Course
INTERROGATION APPROACH

TELL ME AND I FORGET.

TEACH ME AND I
REMEMBER.
INVOLVE ME AND I LEARN.
Benjamin Franklin
INTERROGATION APPROACH

Listen attentively
INTRODUCTION

Interviews and interrogation are both questioning techniques but

serve different purposes in the context of criminal investigations.
Interviewing and interrogation has been the standard for law
enforcement and other professionals. It employs basic human
psychology and skills.
These are aimed at the goal of discovering the truth, not just getting a
confession to a crime.
ARTICLE III, SECTION 12 (1) OF THE CONSTITUTION

(1) Any person under investigation for the commission

of an offense shall have the right to be informed of
his right to remain silent and to have competent and
independent counsel preferably of his own choice.

R.A. 7438, Act defining certain rights of persons

arrested, detained or under custodial investigation as
well as the duties of the arresting, detaining and
investigating officers, and providing penalties for
violations thereof.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
INTERVIEW – To question or converse with victims, witnesses,
complainants and informants in order to obtain information.

INTERROGATION – The formal questioning of suspects or persons in

order to obtain incriminating information and/or confession.
PURPOSE OF I & I
 Establish innocence or guilt by questioning
 Gather FACTS objectively without bias
 Discover leads toward new evidence, motives, witnesses
or suspects
 Discover leads for other cases
 Establish links which connect and/or verify facts supplied
by different people or facts learned in previous
questioning of the same person
 Confession or Admission
 Discover the Truth
TYPES & LEVELS OF INTERVIEWS

 Field – little preparation, brief information

 Planned – fail to prepare, prepare to fail
 Content – who, what, where, when, why, how
 Process – Interaction between interviewer and
interviewee, separation, information, written record, etc
THE SETTING

 A room without distractions

 One table & three chairs
 Large enough for three
 Make him comfortable
 No stimulants
 Partner to take notes
 Your own personal Hygiene & Appearance
THE SETTING AT SUSPECT’S HOME

• No interruptions
• No other family members
• Take control and be in charge
• Have partner take notes
• Phones turned OFF
• Miranda ?????????
• Custodial Interrogation Police
WHAT IF THEY LAWYER UP

Can you interview after a suspect ask for a

lawyer?
Legal Basis:
• R.A. 7438
• Section 12, Art 3 of the Miranda Rights
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 non-confrontational

 Focus is to get person to tell you what happened

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INTERROGATIONS
 Suspects
 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-verbal
 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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QUESTIONS
open-ended questions

• Can you describe what you observed during the

incident?
• When and where did the incident occur?
• Who else was present during the incident?
• Did you hear anything that was said during the
incident?

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QUESTIONS
leading questions (avoid this)
• If you say: did you see the gun on top of the
table? It implies that there was a gun and
therefore the witness is more likely to say yes.

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QUESTIONS
 Who?
 What?
 Where?
 When?
 Why?
 How?

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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.
 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
 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 show-up

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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

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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

 Youth  Isolation

 Intellectual impairment  Confrontation

 Psychopathology  Minimization

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QUESTIONS?

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