Interview and Interrogation: A Training Guide For Law Enforcement Officers
A course breaks down into domains, and each domain into skills. Click any skill to see what it teaches and the mistake trainees most often make.
Preparation & Planning
Reviewing the case file and evidence before the room.
Engage & Explain
Opening with introduction, tone, process, and rapport.
Account Clarification & Challenge
Eliciting the account and challenging inconsistencies.
Managing Resistance & Reading the Suspect
Reading the suspect and adapting the approach.
Closure
Closing professionally and leaving the door open.
Legal & Ethical Conduct
Voluntariness, non-coercion, presumption of innocence.
Learning outcomes
The four outcomes the 21 skills roll up to.
- LO1Apply
Conduct a structured suspect interrogation following the five-stage sequence — Preparation & Planning, Engage & Explain, Account Clarification & Challenge, Closure, Evaluation.
- LO2Apply
Use a principled question typology that favors open-ended and probing questions while avoiding leading, compound, and accusatory forms.
- LO3Analyze
Detect resistance, deception cues, and inconsistencies in a suspect’s account; adapt approach without coercive tactics.
- LO4Apply
Comply with Miranda/voluntariness, non-coercion, and presumption-of-innocence safeguards.