Cognitive interview and effective investigative instruction in eliciting detailed statements evidential value

Criminal activities usually range from petty theft to murder and to avoid these occurrences police officers are greatly involved in arresting the perpetrators in case of a crime. It is important to note that every crime scene has victims who were directly affected by the crime and also witnesses who saw the activity take place. To get information that can be used to arrest the wrongdoers, police officers use the information given to them by the witnesses. Witnesses provide information of happenings rely solely on what they remember prior, during or after the criminal activity. The paper will analyze and discuss the perfect ways in which police officers can use to ensure that witnesses provide substantial information that can easily lead to the arrest of criminals or to their conviction for instance through cognitive interviewing.

To overcome these challenges cognitive interviewing has been introduced to ensure that maximum information is got from the witnesses. Cognitive interviewing is a modern technique being used by police officers to get information from witnesses regarding the events that take place in a crime. This form of interrogation aims at making sure that the witness remembers all the events clearly and precisely without leaving some information out. It is important to note that when an individual experiences an event then the happenings are registered in their mind and becomes part of their memory. In that case, the memory of an individual is very important to a police officer who is trying to retrieve information from an individual believed to have witnessed occurrences in a crime scene. To curb this occurrence, the police department has come up with the art of interviewing that will result to the witness providing enough, correct information that is substantial and can be easily used in tracing a criminal.

The method is aimed at bringing to light to the memory of an individual so that they do not miss any event that took place during a crime which would rather be important to investigators. In cognitive interviewing there are a number of activities that take place or different approaches are used regarding the witness. In this case, the interrogator is left with the responsibility of studying his witness and making an informed decision on which technique to use to ensure they get maximum and correct information from their witness. This is the first process in cognitive interviewing because the approach that is to be used for children witnesses differs from the approach used when dealing with adults. The other theory that is related to cognitive interviewing is the theory of view of many aspects of memory commonly known as ‘Multi-component view of memory.

When following the principle used in this theory, the interviewer provides their witness with an environment that is not necessarily similar to that of the crime scene but one that will enhance their memory in terms of the happenings during the crime. For instance, the interrogator asks the witness to slowly recount the happenings that took place on the day of the crime (Morrison,2014). This strategy is important because it allows the witness to come to terms with the events that took place before, during and after the crime through the encouragement of the investigator. Psychology literature proves that one is likely to forget events that took place earlier thus one is encouraged to remember the things that happened recently going through to the earlier occurrences. It is also important to note that this theory allows the investigator to work with their witness in any way they deem fit as long as it will yield considerable evidence.

For instance, a witness may not be in a position to remember all the counts of their day as a result of the trauma they experienced during the crime therefore in such an event they are allowed to talk as though on behalf of the criminals or other witnesses. A witness is asked to give an account of the happenings of the crime the way he or she thinks other witnesses experienced the occurrence. During the narration, the witness unknowingly provides his or her experience alongside to their thoughts on how others felt or saw the crime. Additionally, the witness is allowed to fit in the criminals shoe and provide an account of what the wrongdoers would have seen before or after their criminal activity. The second process is to allow free flow of communication between the witness and the interrogator.

This can be achieved when the police allow the witness to narrate their ordeal first without interruptions or distractions and that way the witness feels that their observations are being considered as important thus increasing their trust level in the investigator (Morrison, 2014). After the police officer gets the account of the witness, then they can easily determine the technique to use to ensure that they get enough and quality information from their witnesses. It is at this stage the principle of specificity or the multi-view principle are agreed upon to be used to ensure that the witness does not give false information or one that is inappropriate. The process of using cognitive has its own fair share of challenges in ensuring that it yields the desired results. To undertake the process, a police officer should only have the ability to create a communication network between them and the witness.

The police should spend much of his time listening to the witness and the witness allowed time to speak and provide all the information about the case at hand at that particular time. The process is not only important to getting information during a criminal activity but it enhances the general mental retrieval in other circumstances. For instance, when people are in a social gathering and need to remember occurrences of a certain event then the strategy of cognitive interviewing can be used to retrieve the relevant information. In general terms, cognitive interviewing has made the operations of the police very easy because they mainly dwell on the information given by their witnesses. Works Cited A Cognitive Behavioral Perspective on Aggression: An Interview with Dr. Donald Meichenbaum. Collins, Debbie. Cognitive Interviewing Practice.

Kebbell, Mark R. Willis, Gordon B. Analysis of the Cognitive Interview in Questionnaire Design.