Turn your interrogations into a conversation and learn their darkest secrets. Make a suspect believe you’re not their enemy, but someone who cares.

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     Make a suspect believe you’re not their enemy, but someone who cares. In today’s environment, compelling a confession is a flawed interviewing strategy. Videotaped suspect confessions are becoming the minimum standard for prosecutors, judges and juries. And even then, videotaped interviews are viewed with skepticism. 

     Traditional themed-based interviewing is a valuable tool for certain criminal offenses, but it does have its limitations. And may not be credible when perceived as a coerced confession through the lenses of anti-police attitudes.

     Don’t confuse the latest research in psychotherapy and neuroscience as “kumbaya” or kinder and gentler. The most powerful interviewing techniques are simply “conversations with a purpose” supported by scientific research and thirty years of application by exceptional criminal interviewers.  

     Who doesn’t watch at least some of the countless episodes of crime shows on television. So do the unexpected and turn your interview into a conversation.  “Responding” is a powerful technique that generates a treasure trove of volunteered information. It is amazing the amount and quality of information that responding produces. From a prosecutorial, judicial and citizen perspective, volunteered information is perceived as more reliable and credible than “compelled” information.

     The responding technique requires proficiency in specific social and emotional intelligence skills and our ability to accurately read facial expressions, including micro-expressions. With the proper training “responding” is simple and incredibly powerful for generating detailed, accurate, truthful information. Responding is also powerful in building subconscious rapport that encourages the interviewee to reveal information they never intended to share.

     Watch the training video as an interview with a participant during class demonstrates how to use “responding” to facilitate a conversation. The interviewer uses responding to generate more information than the participant ever thought they would share in front of the class. Focusing on key words and phrases, the interviewer always has another question that leads to valuable intelligence.