Science-Based Interviewing: 2nd Edition

(Paperback)

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This book is intended to help law enforcement officers and intelligence agents interview people (criminal suspects, witnesses, victims, or intelligence sources) who are assumed to have information relevant to an event in the past (e.g., a bank robbery) or an event in the future (e.g., intentions to bomb a shopping mall). In fact, the methods have broad application: they also are relevant to attorneys, Human Resource agents, insurance investigators, and bank auditors to anyone with similar needs to acquire information from human sources in a reliable manner. The book provides specific, step-by-step advice for such interviews, from planning for the interview to closing an interview. The contents of the book are based on current science.

Consistent with a wealth of science collected in the past several decades, the fundamental premise of this book is that a person is more likely to share critical information that may be embarrassing or damaging to themselves or others they care about if that person is approached in a humane and respectful manner.

There has been much criticism of the interrogation procedures used by American police. However, to date, there have been few alternative methods offered. The science-based methods described here, that are respectful, empathetic, and honest, are an alternative. They will provide information useful to the prosecution, the defense, or a military unit or an intelligence agency, and will do so in a manner that protects our safety and advances the course of justice.

The chapters here roughly follow the course of an interview, beginning with planning and preparation (Chapters 2, 3 and 4) and continuing on to rapport (Chapter 5), listening (Chapter 6), eliciting a narrative (Chapter 7), and questioning tactics (Chapter 8). Chapter 9 describes how to use evidence to collect information, Chapter 10 provides tactics to increase cooperation and reduce resistance, and Chapter 11 offers methods of assessing whether a subject's story is likely to be true. There are two, final short chapters: a brief discussion of false confessions (Chapter 12) and a quick overview of some of the fundamentals of human memory (Chapter 13).

Author Bio

Susan E. Brandon, Ph.D., managed a U.S. government research program on interviewing and interrogation methods for ten years. For the last eight of those ten years, she served as Research Program Manager for the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG), an inter-agency capability set up by the Obama Administration in 2009 to ensure lawful, rights-respecting interrogations of individuals assumed to have information of significant threats to the U.S. and its allies either within the U.S. or abroad. This Group also was mandated to conduct scientific studies to improve rapport-based interrogation methods. Prior to this, Dr. Brandon was a Program Manager at the National Institutes of Mental Health and Assistant Director for Social, Behavioral and Educational Sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She served two years in the Science Directorate of the American Psychological Association. Prior to those positions, she was on the faculty of the Department of Psychology Behavioral Neuroscience Program at Yale University.

Simon Wells previously served with London's Metropolitan Police, retiring as a Detective Chief Inspector after 30 years' service. Accredited as an Offender profiler, he has profiled over 1000 cases, working throughout the world supporting investigations and operations. He was Course Director of the U.K. National Hostage Crisis Negotiation Course and Head of Operations for Crisis Negotiation in London. Between 2008 and 2013 he was seconded to the U.K.'s Civil Service to support the counter-terrorism effort within the U.K., Iraq, Afghanistan and other theatres of operation. Most recently he has been supporting the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) interrogation training, and currently is the Research to Practice Fellow for the Centre for Research and Evidence in Security and Threat (CREST) at Lancaster University (U.K.) and a Visiting Professor at Coventry University.