Evaluating the benefits of a rapport-based approach to investigative interviews: A training study with law enforcement investigators.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a rapport-based approach to interviewing that includes productive questioning skills, conversational rapport, and relational rapport-building tactics. Hypotheses: We predicted that training police investigators in a rapport-based approach would significantly increase the use of rapport-based tactics and that such tactics would directly influence the interviewee's perceptions of rapport and indirectly lead to increased cooperation and disclosure of information. Method: We trained federal, state, and local law enforcement investigators (N = 67) in the use of evidence-based interviewing techniques. Both before and after this training, investigators interviewed semi cooperative subjects (N = 125). Interviews were coded for the use of various interview tactics, as well as subjects' disclosure. Participants also completed a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of the interviewer and their decision to cooperate with the interviewer. Results: Evaluations of the training were positive, with high ratings of learning, preparedness to use tactics, and likelihood of use following the training. In posttraining interviews, investigators significantly increased their use of evidence-based tactics, including productive questioning, conversational rapport, and relational rapport-building tactics. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that investigators' use of the evidence-based interview tactics was directly associated with increased perceptions of rapport and trust and indirectly associated with increased cooperation and information disclosure. Conclusions: We demonstrated that rapport-based interview tactics could be successfully trained and that using such tactics can facilitate perceptions of rapport and trust, reduce individuals' resistance to cooperate, and increase information yield. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing law enforcement performance in behavior-based threat detection tasks involving a concealed weapon or device.

Across 3 experiments, we assessed the ability of law enforcement officers and naïve controls to detect the concealment of a weapon or device. Study 1 used a classic signal detection paradigm in which participants were asked to assess whether a target was concealing a neutered 9-mm handgun. Study 2 involved a compound signal detection paradigm in which participants assessed whether or not 1 of several individuals was concealing an unstable device in their backpack. Study 3 moved to a 2-alternative forced choice paradigm in which participants evaluated which of 2 targets was concealing an unstable device in his backpack. Across all 3 experiments we consistently found no significant differences in detection performance between law enforcement and naïve controls, although participants did perform above chance levels when response bias was free to vary. Furthermore, officers' years of experience was associated with a bias toward perceiving concealment. Given the frequency with which officers are asked to assess the concealment of weapons or devices, and therein to identify threats, our findings suggest the need for additional research to explore various factors (e.g., context, race of target, operational experience, etc.) likely related to performance on such tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record