Interview and Interrogation Training: It’s Not One and Done.
Interview and Interrogation Training – One and Done? Nope!
Interview and interrogation training… just taking one course is NOT a vaccination! Just because you took one course on the topic doesn’t mean you don’t need or won’t benefit from any more follow-up training. More often than not investigators and especially their administrators maintain the philosophy that once you take a course on interview and interrogation, you don’t really need any more training on the topic for the rest of your career.
The last 10 – 12 years have seen an enormous amount of new research and legal rulings on interview and interrogation training. To maintain a high level of proficiency and reduce personal legal liability, investigators should be constantly studying and researching interview and interrogation research as well as their particular field of expertise. A VERY large majority of the research has proven that many of our detection of deception techniques are absolutely wrong! Unfortunately, misdiagnosis of deception signs is one of the leading causes of false confessions. Even more disturbing is how many people teaching interview and interrogation have been ignoring the empirical research and are responsible for continuing to perpetuate myths about deception and interrogation.
Questions the professional interviewer & interrogator should ask themselves –
- Am I dedicated to being the best in my field including my interview and interrogation skills? Am I a “virtuoso” in my field or am I just average?
- Am I spending 30 – 60 minutes per day reading about interview and interrogation or about my area of specialization?
- Have I ever spent the equivalent of the cost of a gourmet cup of coffee on educating and improving myself and my knowledge base?
- How long ago did I take any training or refresher training on interview and interrogation?
- Have I really looked at the true “source” of my interview and interrogation training? Is what I am being taught supported by empirical evidence or is it just anecdotal. As business expert Mark Sanborn wrote in his latest business book “Up, Down or Sideways,” despite popular belief “data is not the plural of anecdotal.”
- Am I learning for the future? The more you learn, the more you know what you are going to need to learn to be able to adapt to what you will encounter in the future.
If nothing else, there is one more VERY good reason to read, research and study our interview and interrogation skills. We dramatically improve our chances of success in the interview room and in the field.
Mark Sanborn wrote, “The more you learn, the more you develop behavioral flexibility that provides you a distinct advantage over your competition.”
Stan B. Walters, CSP
“The Lie Guy®”
TheLieGuy.com
TheLieGuy® Academy.