Strategic Evidence Disclosure When Interviewing Suspects

Strategic Evidence Disclosure When Interviewing Suspects: Translating Scientific Principles into Operational Tactics

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This course will give you insight into how investigative interviewers can be trained to deal with research findings on strategic evidence disclosure.

Strategic evidence disclosure is an essential part of an investigative interview, as evidence disclosure can be used to encourage interviewees to share details they might not have been willing to reveal initially.

However, without understanding how to develop an evidence disclosure plan the evidence can easily be used incorrectly; it can cause unnecessary frustration and confusion for both interviewer and interviewee, it can damage the credibility of the interviewer, and it can even result in interviewees refusing to talk, or conversely, falsely confessing to a crime they did not commit.

In this course we will oversee what the research tells us about interviewing individuals that are cooperative, resistant, and deceptive. We will then consider the practical relevance of researched techniques and discuss how they can be translated into operational interview tactics. We will practice the techniques by using realistic case-examples and role-playing exercises.

This course is based on the training developed from a close collaboration between a researching scientist and a homicide detective. The following topics are covered:

Theoretical classes:

Interviewing cooperative subjects
Interviewing deceptive subjects
Interviewing resistant subjects

Practical classes:

Good questioning and active listening
Evidence assessment
Evidence slicing and resistance mitigation
Good questioning
Evidence disclosure
Final exercise

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Simon Oleszkiewicz has 10 years of experience with examining interview techniques for investigative interviewing and intelligence gathering. He recently completed a 2-year research program on translating the existing research on evidence disclosure techniques into an operational training manual for investigators. Simon has lectured and trained professionals in research-based interview techniques across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Learning objectives
By the end of this course, students will have:
- an understanding of limitations with directly implementing research-based interview techniques in practice
- the ability to distinguish three reasons why subjects might not be forthcoming with details in an interview
- the ability to develop and assess an effective evidence disclosure plan
- the ability to identify risky interview behaviour and to argue against the effectiveness of problematic evidence disclosure tactics
Forms of tuition and assessment

The course will be taught through live lectures, practical exercises, and a final written paper for examination (5-10 pages). All students are required to attend all classes and practicals, but their grades will be based solely on their development of an evidence disclosure plan in a realistic case (examination paper).
The hour distribution is the following:
Introduction (1h)
3 Theoretical Classes: (TC1) Interviewing cooperative subjects; (TC2) Interviewing deceptive subjects; (TC3) Interviewing resistant subjects (4.5 h in total)
3 Practical Classes: (PC1) Good questioning and active listening; (PC2) Evidence assessment; (PC3) Evidence slicing and resistance mitigation (4.5 h in total)
3 Practical Exercises: (PE1) Good questioning; (PE2) Evidence disclosure; (PE3) Final exercise (10h in total)
Final Paper
Course Syllabus

Here you will find a detailed description of the course, the reading list, a timetable and more.
_{*Some information may be subject to change}