Tried & Tested Investigative Interviewing Techniques

By John A. Hoda

Unlike media representations of investigative interviewing, the best tactics don’t require trickery, deceit, or advanced skills in reading body language. Instead, a deeper knowledge of investigative interviews discussed in this article will help you gather between 25% to 50% more facts.

Unfortunately, most investigative interviewing today falls into a simple question-answer, question-answer format. The interviewer asks a question and the respondent gives an answer. Using this method, interviews often deteriorate into simple yes or no answers, resulting in surface level information. Even worse, the investigator may have alerted a suspect to the facts they possess, or unwittingly tipped them off on how to better cover their tracks.

Fortunately, I’ve discovered a better way to conduct investigative interviews through the college course entitled Techniques of Interviewing, experience as a policeman, fraud investigator, and PI.

Rapport & Open Questions

One valuable method of investigative interviewing is establishing a rapport between yourself and the interviewee. Rapport forms a sense of trust or unbiased search for the truth which can result in better answers. Once a rapport is established, interviewers should begin to ask open-ended questions to lead to more unknown details. Instead of leading the interview, ask questions that let the subject expand on their viewpoint. Successfully …read more

Source:: Private Invest