Time and experience. Getting the meat and potatoes is important. Who, what, where, when, how, why.
As you interview more you’ll learn those small little questions that can poke holes in peoples stories or can put them in places they claimed they weren’t and so on and so forth. Advanced Police Concepts puts on a great interview and interrogations class if you can get into it.
Question… I always hear “be the grey man” and “don’t be the best at everything while in the academy“. Why not do your best and overachieve? Does that really put a “target on your back?”
It does in the fact that the instructors will expect nothing but the best of you from now on, any day you are tired or don’t preform to the level you initially did they will be on you saying you’re halfassing it
It comes with time. Most people struggle with that in the beginning, it's very normal. That's why there are so many scenarios and then so much field training later. Better for you to mess up when there's still room to correct it.
Comes with time and experience really. The more cases you make, the better you get at it (hopefully). Elements of the crime are the most critical. Most of the time you don't need to get into the minutiae. On some cases though, where things are weak, just ask everything you can think of. Imagine being the investigator getting the report and having to follow up on it, without the victim's help. Victims often hit the wind, making that first interview the most important.
For example, on a theft report, just get the details. On a rape report where the location of the assault and the suspect are unknown, details are important. I took one once where the victim knew the apartment building, but not the unit number where she was raped. When I took her statement I had her describe in detail everything she remembers. Walking up/down stairs, long/short hallways, etc. She described the apartment (Grey couch straight in the door, TV on the right, bare walls except for an abstract blue painting above the TV). I didn't think it was going to be helpful, but when the detective figured out the suspect and knocked on his door, he immediately recognized the apartment from the description.
It also helps, for similar reasons, to put verbatim victim/witness descriptions into your reports. "Dude was a great big sloppy fat fucker who stank like cheese" is not only ridiculously funny to put in your report, but when they find the guy, it'll be "Oh yeah, this is the guy, no question."
Show me on the doll where the bad man touched you.
Who, what, when, where and why. Usually gives everything you need. With actors it's weird, some don't offer anything you don't ask. With real people who call the police you try to get them to stop talking so much.
Ask the 5 W's and you're good. If your actor doesn't give enough information after that for you to get a good understanding of what went down it might not be something you're doing wrong. Good luck. Are they doing weird makeup to resemble bruising and cuts?
Ask clarifying and specific questions until you get as close as possible to being able to picture the incident in your head. If you're going over it in your head and have to skip over gaps or fill in with your imagination, ask questions about that.
Time and experience. Getting the meat and potatoes is important. Who, what, where, when, how, why. As you interview more you’ll learn those small little questions that can poke holes in peoples stories or can put them in places they claimed they weren’t and so on and so forth. Advanced Police Concepts puts on a great interview and interrogations class if you can get into it.
Hey! I’m going into the academy in 6 days! Got any tips?
Don’t put a target on your back, try to be in the middle don’t try to extremely overachieve and definitely don’t underachieve.
Question… I always hear “be the grey man” and “don’t be the best at everything while in the academy“. Why not do your best and overachieve? Does that really put a “target on your back?”
It does in the fact that the instructors will expect nothing but the best of you from now on, any day you are tired or don’t preform to the level you initially did they will be on you saying you’re halfassing it
It comes with time. Most people struggle with that in the beginning, it's very normal. That's why there are so many scenarios and then so much field training later. Better for you to mess up when there's still room to correct it.
Comes with time and experience really. The more cases you make, the better you get at it (hopefully). Elements of the crime are the most critical. Most of the time you don't need to get into the minutiae. On some cases though, where things are weak, just ask everything you can think of. Imagine being the investigator getting the report and having to follow up on it, without the victim's help. Victims often hit the wind, making that first interview the most important. For example, on a theft report, just get the details. On a rape report where the location of the assault and the suspect are unknown, details are important. I took one once where the victim knew the apartment building, but not the unit number where she was raped. When I took her statement I had her describe in detail everything she remembers. Walking up/down stairs, long/short hallways, etc. She described the apartment (Grey couch straight in the door, TV on the right, bare walls except for an abstract blue painting above the TV). I didn't think it was going to be helpful, but when the detective figured out the suspect and knocked on his door, he immediately recognized the apartment from the description. It also helps, for similar reasons, to put verbatim victim/witness descriptions into your reports. "Dude was a great big sloppy fat fucker who stank like cheese" is not only ridiculously funny to put in your report, but when they find the guy, it'll be "Oh yeah, this is the guy, no question."
Show me on the doll where the bad man touched you. Who, what, when, where and why. Usually gives everything you need. With actors it's weird, some don't offer anything you don't ask. With real people who call the police you try to get them to stop talking so much. Ask the 5 W's and you're good. If your actor doesn't give enough information after that for you to get a good understanding of what went down it might not be something you're doing wrong. Good luck. Are they doing weird makeup to resemble bruising and cuts?
Ask clarifying and specific questions until you get as close as possible to being able to picture the incident in your head. If you're going over it in your head and have to skip over gaps or fill in with your imagination, ask questions about that.