Best Practices in Police Interviewing

Police officers have a simple charge- to protect persons and property at a local and national level; simple in the sense of understanding the mandate, but complex in execution of the mission. A core construct in solving crime and obtaining credible information is the interview process. Research indicates meager amounts of valuable academy training time is spent on police interviewing which may result in inadequate exposure to proper interviewing protocol in a challenging era of modern policing. Further, the World Health Organization predicts mental illness will surpass heart disease as the foremost health crisis to mankind, likely increasing the exposure of the mentally ill to the police. It is logical to surmise police and those with mental illness will intersect at unprecedented levels in the coming decades with police having limited exposure to this unique population during training. This project is the intersection of criminal interviewing and a more clinical approach for police interviewing those with mental illness. This book examines the current interview tactics of law enforcement, coalescing the practices with therapeutic interventions, to propose a better way forward.