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Train‐the‐trainer: Methodology to learn the cognitive interview
Author(s) -
Molinaro Peter F.,
Fisher Ronald P.,
Mosser Alexandra E.,
Satin Geri E.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of investigative psychology and offender profiling
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1544-4767
pISSN - 1544-4759
DOI - 10.1002/jip.1518
Subject(s) - law enforcement , trainer , interview , psychology , cognition , enforcement , applied psychology , medical education , social psychology , law , medicine , political science , computer science , psychiatry , programming language
Research has indicated that police may not receive enough training in interviewing cooperative witnesses, specifically in use of the cognitive interview (CI). Practically, for the CI to be effective in real‐world investigations, police investigators must be trained by law enforcement trainers. We conducted a three‐phase experiment to examine the feasibility of training experienced law enforcement trainers who would then train others to conduct the CI. We instructed Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement trainers about the CI (Phase I); law enforcement trainers from both agencies ( n = 4, 100% male, mean age = 50 years) instructed university students ( n = 25, 59% female, mean age = 21 years) to conduct either the CI or a standard law enforcement interview (Phase II); the student interviewers then interviewed other student witnesses ( n = 50, 73% female, mean age = 22 years), who had watched a simulated crime (phase III). Compared with standard training, interviews conducted by those trained by CI‐trained instructors contained more information and at a higher accuracy rate and with fewer suggestive questions.