Information from people often initiates an investigation and sets the foundation and direction for everything that follows. Information is the lifeblood of criminal investigations, yet true and accurate recall of information from people is difficult to achieve. In fact, 75% of wrongfully convicted people, convicted of crimes they didn’t commit, were based upon faulty eyewitness information! Cognitive Interviewing is an investigative interviewing technique that provides greater and more accurate recall of information from victims and witnesses of crimes. This online training course utilizes video instruction, personal reading, research material, assignments, individual practice and application of the techniques learned as well as instructor feedback which greatly improves the ability of investigators to conduct effective information-gathering interviews. Understanding how memory works will not only allow the investigator to gather more accurate information from victims and witnesses, it will also help to shed light on information that is NOT coming from memory and thus, may be deceptive or unreliable. Cognitive Interviewing is one of the most highly researched methods of investigative interviewing drawing international support from the academic community as well as investigators within the field. Students will learn the strengths and weaknesses of human memory, and in so doing, learn techniques to maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses. This online, self-paced training program focuses on effective communication and powerful interviewing techniques and strategies to enhance memory and recall from victims and witnesses. This training will develop essential skills for patrol, first responders and investigators. Detectives working “cold cases” may find these skills especially helpful as memory can degrade over time. 

To register for the self-paced Cognitive Interviewing online training course, or for a video and more information about the course, click the following link:

Understanding facial expressions, micro-expressions and emotions can provide valuable information during an interview or interrogation. Things like changes in their normal baseline or identifying conflicts between what they say and their expressed emotion or micro-expression can help lead an investigator to focus questions at these key areas. Pair this up with understanding and assessing body language and really listening to what they say and how they say it through critical analysis of the words they use with training in investigative statement analysis and you are on you way to reaching the truth. Keep in mind that none of these techniques specifically identify deception, but they help to prioritize interviews, direct investigations as well as focus and improve an investigators interviewing strategy. This will ultimately ferret out deception and bring the truth to light. For information on facial expressions and micro-expressions, check out the following video:

The Lie Boat is a 5 Day/4 Night cruise offering 12 training sessions on detecting deception, effective interviewing, interrogation strategies, micro-expressions training, investigative statement analysis training and workshops and much more! Date: August 28th - September 1st, 2014. For more info go to: http://www.thelieboat.com/

Steven Pinker provides a lot of insight into human language in this video, which has a LOT of information to digest, but the concepts Pinker shares really drive home why it's so important for an investigator to really listen to the words people use during interviews and interrogations.