Film Analysis: An Overview Of Investigative Interviewing

Introduction
Interviewing requires a lot of careful planning and decision making to improve the likelihood of desirable results. There are many factors that significantly influence the direction of an interview. People conducting interviews must be cognoscente of their actions as to not contaminate the interview. “An Overview of Investigative Interviewing” (1998) is a film that depicts British Police officers conducting an interview with a victim of crime. Immediately at the start of the film, the audience can see several decisions to improve the interview. The interview appears to be taking place in a quiet and secluded office. The interviewee and the officer are seated close and parallel to each other. This setting is beneficial as it removes

The statement was a great way to start the interview on good terms and the beginning of establishing rapport between the officer and the interviewee. It is also important in making sure that the interviewee is at the optimal state of comfort, the officer further explores this notion by providing the interviewee with the option to take a break and rest, or anything else that would satisfy interviewee. The following statements from the officer are standard in the beginning of an interview. The officer explained the reason for the interview, informed the interviewee that notes would be taken, although the officer could have improved on this by requesting permission to take notes. The officer strenuously does his due diligence by telling the interviewee not to worry about the quality of her information and not to make up information that the police would want to hear. The interview itself was conducted well, the officer practiced active listening skills by not interrupting the interviewee, maintaining eye contact, nodding, and using encouraging phrases. The officer clarifies his information at the same time as proving to the interviewee that he was listening by paraphrasing the statement back to

When the interviewee said “I went diagonally across the street”, the officer said “you went straight across the street”, and the interviewee agreed and changed her statement. Then the officer directly plants the idea in the victim’s memories that the two young people we men, directly after the victim said she did not know their gender. The “description of the suspect” continued on with the officer planting false information in the statement. The officer asked the closed-ended question of “was it a bright day, the sun was shining?” instead of the open-ended question of “how was the weather”. The officer did use proper open-ended questions regarding the clothing of the suspect. During the reenactment of the crime scene, the officer once again feeds his own narrative by planting the idea that the interviewee hit her elbow on the side of the car when, she truly did not know. The officer was cognoscenti of his proxemics and the audience can see that when the interviewee became emotional, the officer came closer to her and leaned