My epiphany came when I was on the witness stand taking a grilling from an aggressive defense lawyer. They had just played my in-custody interview of his client, an interview I had once been proud of after I hammered a confession out of this child predator. His attorney took issue with my interviewing style. He pointed out what now seems obvious: I went into that interview with the unwavering belief that his client was guilty, and everything I did in that interview, every trick and manipulation I had been trained to do, was directed at getting a confession. Any denial or piece of conflicting evidence went unheard. I lost that case, for reasons not the least of which was my overzealous interview.

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That experience was humbling, but it set me on the path to where I am now: a passionate advocate for effective and ethical interviewing practices. I have spent the years since reading, attending training, reading more, working with world-class researchers, and practicing a set of cutting-edge interviewing techniques in real, high stakes law enforcement interviews.

 

My passion for this topic has led me to share it with as many people as possible. We successfully implemented science-based interviewing practices at the largest police department in our state, and we even convinced our state academy to adopt it as the recognized best practice for investigative interviewing. We workshopped with the academy to help them integrate it into the state's basic training curriculum.

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We have refined and customized our training to meet the specific needs of various stakeholders, and we would love to tailor it to your organization as well. These techniques apply not just to law enforcement, but to any industry, any company, any person wanting to elicit the most detailed and accurate information they can in an interview setting.