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Criminal Psychology

Police interview strategies: the cognitive interview and the PEACE model

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 03

Overview

Recall questions on police interview strategies based on the cognitive interview, including context reinstatement, free recall, witness-compatible questioning, transferring control, rapport and open questions, when it is unsuitable, the PEACE model for suspects, and evaluating and costing training.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What is witness-compatible questioning?

Key term

In the PEACE model, what happens during the account stage?

Key term

Name a strategy for interviewing witnesses that is based on memory research.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Name a strategy for interviewing witnesses that is based on memory research.

    Model answer

    The enhanced cognitive interview.

  2. 2

    What might an officer actually say to reinstate context at the start of an interview?

    Model answer

    They would ask the witness to picture the scene again, recalling the weather, the sounds, where they were standing and how they were feeling just before it happened.

  3. 3

    Why must the interviewer avoid interrupting the witness's free account?

    Model answer

    Interruptions break the witness's chain of retrieval and teach them to give short answers and wait to be asked, which reduces the amount recalled.

  4. 4

    What is witness-compatible questioning?

    Model answer

    Following the order of the witness's own recall and asking about the part of the event they are currently picturing, rather than working through a fixed list of questions.

  5. 5

    What is meant by transferring control of the interview to the witness?

    Model answer

    Making clear that the witness holds the information and should do most of the talking, with the officer guiding rather than directing.

  6. 6

    Why is building rapport worth the time it takes?

    Model answer

    An anxious witness recalls less, so putting them at ease and treating them as an individual improves both the amount and the quality of what they report.

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APunishment requires deprivation, loss of autonomy and stigma.
BReform requires trust, responsibility and self-respect.
CThe regime that achieves one tends to undermine the other.

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