Improving the quality of the police interview: Can training in the use of cognitive techniques help?

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Abstract
Previous research on the Cognitive Interview (CI) has suggested that it is an effective procedure to use when interviewing witnesses. Much of the research however, has used college students as interviewers and provided little information about the quality of training. The aim of this research was to pilot a CI training procedure using thirty‐eight British police officers with varying levels of field experience. An armed robbery was staged and interviews were conducted with witnesses. Analysis of results did not reveal any differences in witness performance with the CI as compared to a control technique. Feedback from interviewers and a study of interview transcripts suggested that the CI training (which had been successful in previous studies) had little impact on the interviewing style of these experienced officers and that the CI techniques were not used appropriately. The implications of these results for police training in the CI are discussed.

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