Interview and Interrogation

Franklin County Department of Emergency Services
390 New York Avenue
Chambersburg, PA 17201

This three-day course of instruction is designed to facilitate both patrol officers and criminal investigators while dealing with deceptive subjects. It provides the student with the tools necessary to conduct suspect interviews, identify the deceptive subject and obtain confessions. We will discuss the phases of the formal interview and expose each participant to the potential utility of different questioning techniques used to obtain more detailed information in compliant subjects. An important goal of this instruction is to raise the confidence level of the officer by using a systematic approach to finding the truth so that they can confront the dishonest subject and ultimately gain the truth.

This course utilizes video from real life interviews so that the student has the opportunity to see the successful employment of the techniques that are taught. Extensive instruction and discussion of video examples that detail what deception looks and sounds like will provide the student with valuable insight into detecting deception.

We will discuss the steps to interrogation which include developing themes and tailoring a monologue, positively confronting the deceptive subject, handling any denials, redirecting their resistance to telling the truth and gaining the guilty person’s trust through empathy and rapport building.