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Police interviewing techniques might be about to undergo a revamp, in an effort to uncover the truth, rather than force a quick confession that could be open to dispute.
A police review over the last year has resulted in an initiative, based on an English "Peace" interviewing model, to be recommended to the Commissioner.
Police News magazine said today the model "provides a framework for gaining the maximum amount of information from an interviewee in the shortest period of time".
No longer would the first aim of a suspect interview be to get a confession.
"Under the new scheme, the aim of all interviews would be to establish the truth."
There were five phases to the Peace model:
* Planning and preparation, which recognised there was no successful interview without planning beforehand;
* Engage and explain, which described how to cope with the problems of beginning an interview and established the ground rules;
* Account, clarify and challenge, which dealt with the central issue of obtaining the interviewee's account, clarifying this and where necessary challenging it;
* Closure, which described the considerations before closing the interview; and
* Evaluation. At the end of the interview an evaluation would take place to determine what was learned and how the interview fitted into the investigation.
Police News pointed out that sworn and sometimes non-sworn staff would have to adopt a change in attitude when using the new model "...where virtually every interaction with the public would be regarded as a means of gathering evidence".
The magazine said such a big change to the culture of an organisation cannot happen overnight.
But no police service could afford to become embroiled in public argument about false confessions, allegations of improper pressure, or disputes about what was said or not said, it said.
- NZPA
