Investigation Skills Training Course - 1 Day

1. Formal complaints
2. Possible bullying
3. Harassment
4. Disciplinary issues
5. Grievance issues
6. Misconduct

1. Taking the initial statement of complaint.
2. Taking independent witness statements.
3. Interviewing the person who is accused of doing something wrong.
4. Recording everything in writing, in a chronological order, ensuring that you omit any inadmissible statements and retain every relevant item of admissible evidence.
5. Preparing a file sufficient that the decision-maker(s) can make a proper, informed decision.

Investigative questioning is a form of conversation that does not follow the normal social conventions, but must still be done with a high degree of professionalism and respect, whilst being effective as a tool to get to the truth.

This investigation skills training is designed to help your people make the switch in conversational technique, in order to conduct a professional, respectful and effective interview.

1. Get to the truth of the matter.
2. Uncover any outright lies, by identifying contradictions and errors.
3. Uncover evasion. Evasion is the art of not telling the whole truth, ie missing important bits out, in order to distort the truth without actually lying.
4. Distinguish error from malice or laziness.
5. Take proper contemporaneous written notes, so that you can use the information gleaned during the interview.

Investigation interview is a special context that requires that you make a conscious shift in your normal conversational method.

1. Some people respond to questions, but do not answer them.
2. The questioner must notice when their question has not been answered

1. First hand evidence - admissible.
2. Second hand evidence - hearsay evidence - non-admissible.

The best evidence rule is a legal principle that holds that an original document is superior evidence than any copy. The rule specifies that a copy cannot be used if the original exists.

This means keep safe all your original documents and evidence.

You need to distinguish between two kinds of statement:
Objective facts and Subjective opinions.

1. Objective facts - the evidence provided by the five senses
2. Subjective opinions - personal interpretation of facts

You need to distinguish between two kinds of statement:
Specific and vague.

1. Specific statements denote only one possible interpretation
2. Vague statements denote multiple possible interpretations

Your skill as an investigator is to take their vague statements and by questioning, reduce it down to a specific statement.

Identifying four types of response to a question:

1. Truth – the statement corresponds to the facts and is self-consistent.
2. Error – The statement is NOT TRUE but is believed to be true by the speaker. The speaker is in error.
3. Lie – The statement is NOT TRUE and the speaker knows that it is not true. It is a lie.
4. Evasion – The statement does not answer the original question. The speaker is not actually lying but is evading the truth by not giving full answers. He -she keeps “ducking the question”.

Warning: Evasions are more common than lies. Because lies contradict reality, they are more dangerous to the speaker. If a person has done something wrong, he-she will be more likely to EVADE the question rather than LIE, because NOT answering a question is safer than lying.

Ways people use to EVADE questions.

1. Forcibly challenge the questioner. (The Donald Trump Technique).
2. Change the subject. (The Tony Blair technique).
3. Give the answer to a different question.
4. Have an emotional outburst, (usually an outburst of anger or tears).

1. Key questioning skills.
How to ask probing questions.

2. Getting to the facts, not opinions or guesses.
Separate facts from opinions, interpretations and guesswork.

3. Notice when a person says one thing, then later contradicts the statement.
Contradictions should be noted and investigated.

4. Gaps in the narrative.
Find out what bits they have failed to mention.

5. Take things in chronological order (time order).
Structure their statements into a time-sequenced order.

Taking contemporaneous notes.
Taking hand written notes: Accurate, complete and legible.
The art of asking questions and taking notes at the same time.
The rules on recording.

Where to sit: The relative positions of the interviewer to the interviewee makes a difference to the outcome. You should avoid confrontational positioning.

Prepare the environment: Environmental factors such as noise, interruptions, lighting, furniture, all make a difference to the outcome of an interview.

Yours – There are some things you should not do with your body language.

Theirs – There are some things you should look out for, in their body language.

1. Posture
2. Eye contact
3. Hand Gestures
4. Facial Expression
5. Congruent and incongruent communications

Exercises and practice sessions.
Practice questioning the trainer who will try to evade your questions.

Feedback on your performance, in order that you learn more, by analysing any errors.