Work

Engage and Explain, Account, and Closure Phases in Mock Witnesses' Investigative Interviews

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Evidence‐based investigative interviewing protocols are central to the training of police investigators. While past research has focused on analysing the questioning types and styles used by police officers, there is growing interest in the Engage and explain, Account, and Closure phases of the interview. The objective of our study was to analyze the use of evidenced‐based interviewing techniques advocated in these phases of the interview among experienced police officers at the beginning and at the end of a training course. We evaluated 28 mock witness investigative interviews conducted by 14 police officers, half of whom had previously received training in an evidence‐based interviewing technique. We used a scoring grid of 14 recommended interviewing techniques. The results showed that at the end of a training they used an average of 11.2 components whether they had been previously trained or not, but that there is room for improvements. Future research and training recommendations in evidence‐based investigative interviewing protocols are discussed.

Source: Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling

DOI: 10.1002/jip.70026

Authors: Maïté Brunel, Zoé‐Aïssatou Balde, Jacques Py, Rebecca Milne, Céline Launay

Institutions: Université de Lille, Psychologie : Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Toulouse, University of Portsmouth

Language: English

Topic: Deception detection and forensic psychology

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Quality education

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: Université de Lille