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INT2: Advanced Suspect Interviewing

Fundamental

Instructors

Dr. Eastwood is an Associate Professor in the Forensic Psychology program at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, and the founder of Eastwood Consulting. His research focuses using psychological science to improve interviewing practices. He creates and teaches university courses on investigative interviewing topics – including fully-online courses – at both the undergraduate and graduate level. He also delivers interview training courses and seminars to law enforcement, private, and governmental organizations.

 

Detective Mitton spent 30 years with the Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) and is the lead training consultant at Eastwood Consulting. He spent much of his career as a Major Crimes investigator and has extensive experience in conducting high-profile interviews with victims, witnesses, and suspects. He was also responsible for creating and delivering the interview training within the DRPS until his retirement in 2019.

Content

The course consists of eight  modules: Introduction, Key Attributes, Pre-Interview Planning, Opening Phase, Generating the Account,  Challenging the Account, Closure & Evaluation, and Admissibility.  Each modules contains short video lecture clips outlining the theoretical concepts and how to apply them in practice,  illustrative clips from Det. Mitton's interview with convicted murder Adam Strong, and multiple-choice quizzes to test knowledge retention.

 

All of this content is situated within the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS), which allows users to systematically work through the content in a sequential manner and tracking their progress as sections are completed. It can be accessed on any internet-enabled device 24 hours a day and can be completed on whatever timeline works for a given trainee.   

Audience

This course was designed primarily for a law enforcement audience, and specifically those conducting interviews with suspects and accused persons. However, the content is also relevant for investigators working in other contexts, such as regulatory agencies, loss prevention, and workplace investigations. While the examples are focused on cases of a criminal nature, the concepts covered in the course can be applied to any investigatory context where individuals are being questioned about their potential involvement in an offence.

 

The goal of the course is to make trainees more skilled and efficient at extracting information from individuals that have been accused of wrongdoing. It builds on the core components found within our Fundamentals courses by focusing specifically on the challenges faced within suspect interview contexts. Any investigator looking to further enhance their knowledge and skills in this area will find this course particularly helpful.

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