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Source Handler telephone interactions with covert human intelligence sources: An exploration of question types and intelligence yield
Author(s) -
Nunan Jordan,
Stanier Ian,
Milne Rebecca,
Shawyer Andrea,
Walsh Dave
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3726
Subject(s) - covert , psychology , interview , context (archaeology) , human intelligence , law enforcement , extant taxon , sample (material) , applied psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , political science , law , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics , chemistry , chromatography , evolutionary biology , biology
Summary Law Enforcement Agencies gather intelligence in order to prevent criminal activity and pursue criminals. In the context of human intelligence collection, intelligence elicitation relies heavily upon the deployment of appropriate evidence‐based interviewing techniques (a topic rarely covered in the extant research literature). The present research gained unprecedented access to audio recorded telephone interactions ( N = 105) between Source Handlers and Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) from England and Wales. The research explored the mean use of various question types per interaction and across all questions asked in the sample, as well as comparing the intelligence yield for appropriate and inappropriate questions. Source Handlers were found to utilise vastly more appropriate questions than inappropriate questions, though they rarely used open‐ended questions. Across the total interactions, appropriate questions (by far) were associated with the gathering of much of the total intelligence yield. Implications for practise are discussed.