We recently sat down with December’s Featured Instructor, Wesley Clark, to discuss his course and his thoughts on Cognitive Interviewing. When he’s not at Law Enforcement Learning, you can find him training, consulting, or tweeting at @WesClark. Here are some excerpts from our conversation:
Law Enforcement Learning: Tell us about your course:
Clark: Cognitive Interviewing is a highly researched and very effective method of investigative interviewing that has been shown to extract more accurate and more reliable information from victims and witnesses than traditional interviewing techniques. With faulty or inaccurate witnesses information being a contributing factor in 75% of wrongfully convicted people, it is important that we train our officers and investigators with the best and most reliable methods of obtaining information from people.
Law Enforcement Learning: Why do law enforcement & security professionals need this information?
Clark: First of all, interviewing is something investigators and police officers do every day. It is a skill that can and should be developed throughout an individual’s career. Secondly, physical evidence, DNA, fingerprints and such are great for an investigator to have during an investigation, but not all cases have such physical evidence, and some have little or no available evidence. However, every case that is investigated contains information from people; whether it is information from the victim or complainant, witnesses, an informant or possible suspects. Effective interviewing sets the foundation for a successful investigation by obtaining accurate, reliable information from people just as improper interviewing sets the foundation for failure.
Law Enforcement Learning: Why should they get this information from you?
Clark: I retired in 2009 as a Sergeant after 23 years with the Connecticut State Police Department where I served most of my time within the Major Crime Squad as a Detective and Supervisor. I have used these techniques successfully during my career and I currently teach agencies throughout the United States Cognitive Interviewing and other techniques designed to reach the truth during investigative inquiries.
Law Enforcement Learning: If people are interested in this subject, where can they go for more?
Clark: They can contact me through my company, LIES, LLC Linguistic Interrogation Expert Services at http://www.truthsleuth.com or email me at lies@truthsleuth.com.
If you are interested in improving your interview skills and increasing your capability to detect the truth, check out Clark’s Cognitive Interviewing – it starts soon!