1. COGNITIVE INTERVIEWS
AC1.2 Assess the use of investigative techniques in criminal investigations

2. Criminal investigation
Criminal investigation – an ensemble of methods by which crimes are studied and criminals apprehended
The criminal investigator seeks to ascertain the methods, motives, and identities of criminals and the identity of victims and may also search for and interrogate witnesses.

3. AIM Improve the effectiveness of witness interviews
Memory is not like a video camera
Psychological research shows that memory is an active process

4. CI
The cognitive interview (CI) is a method of interviewing eyewitnesses and victims about what they remember from a crime scene.
Using four retrievals, the primary focus of the cognitive interview is to make witnesses and victims of a situation aware of all the events that transpired.

5. CI
The cognitive interview is a technique used during police interviews and aims to elicit as much information as possible from the eye witness by using four components.

6. RECALL FROM A CHANGED PERSPECTIVE RECALL IN REVERSE ORDER
FOUR STAGES
WHAT?
WHY? 1
CONTEXT
REINSTATEMENT
Recall the scene, the weather, what you were thinking and feeling
Recalling how you felt and the context enhance recollection (these details act as cues to recall) 2
REPORT
EVERYTHING
Report every detail you can – even if it seems irrelevant or trivial
Witnesses might not realise that some details are important and details might help them recall significant information 3
RECALL FROM A CHANGED PERSPECTIVE
Describe the event as it would have been seen from different viewpoints
Encourages many retrieval paths 4
RECALL IN REVERSE ORDER
Describe the even in reverse order
When events are recalled in forward order, witnesses reconstruct based on their schemes. If the order is changed they are more accurate

7. Which stage?
‘Please do not edit anything out of your report, even things you think may not be important’

8. Which stage?
‘Think about how you were feeling at the time and think about your reactions to the incident’

9. Which stage?
‘Try starting with the thing that had the biggest impression on you regarding the incident and then go from there, going both forward in time and backward’

10. Which stage?
‘Think about what the surrounding environment looked like at the scene, such as rooms, the weather, any nearby people or objects’

11. Which stage?
‘Try to place yourself in the role of a prominent character in the incident and think about what he or she must have seen

12. Research into The Cognitive Interview - Fisher et al
tested the validity of the cognitive interview
They used a group of police officers and trained half of them to use the cognitive interview (cognitive group) and let half of them use normal interviewing techniques (control group)
Both groups carried out two different interviews with the same person. In the second interview, the cognitive group used the cognitive interview In the second interview the cognitive group obtained 47% more facts relating to the event whereas there was no increase in the control group

13. FISHER et al 1987
ADDED A FEW MORE POINTS:

14. It leads to extensive recall
EVALUATION
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
It is widely used by police forces sometimes with variations on the original – this allows for a consistency in how witnesses are interviewed, but also gives it relativity to develop with the situation
It leads to extensive recall
Police personnel have to be trained and this can be expensive and time consuming and most forces are facing funding cuts.
The information recalled by the witnesses take a long time to for the police to “sieve through”. The technique is time consuming if it is to be used in its entirety. This is an issue as obviously the longer it take the longer the perpetrator is still out there.