The PEACE Model of Investigative Interviewing

To view the presentation live, please visit -
peace.interviewmanagementsolutions.com/registration
(Running time: 38 minutes)

Aims -
• By the end of this workshop you’ll be able to:
• Understand what the PEACE model framework is
• Understand how the PEACE model can be used

Welcome!
• By way of introduction:
• A career investigator with over 30 years investigative experience
• Law enforcement trainer as a Lecturer in Policing with Charles
Sturt University
• Honours Degree qualified and trained as a specialist interviewer of
children and other vulnerable victims of crime with Kent Police in
the UK

Professional interviewing outcomes:
• You could conduct more ethical and professional interviews
• You could reach stronger defensible investigation conclusions
• Increase other stakeholders’ confidence in your ability to investigate
complex matters

Objectives -
• By the end of this workshop you’ll be able to:
• Understand and describe the working parts of the PEACE model
framework
• Describe the key considerations when planning and preparing for any type
of interview
• Understand how to apply the model to plan, conduct and evaluate your
investigative interviews

What is the PEACE Model?
• ‘PEACE’ is a mnemonic which stands for:
• Planning and Preparation
• Engage & Explain
• Account, Clarification & Challenge
• Closure
• Evaluation

The Background -
• Created in the UK in the 1980s following a series of interviewing failings
that led to miscarriages of justice
• Designed to offer a more effective and ethical alternative to persuasive and
‘confession-focussed’ interviewing techniques
• Now being used by law enforcement around the world

The PEACE Model
P
Plan &
Prep
E
Engage &
Explain
A
Account
C
Closure
E
Evaluate

Planning & Preparation
• Review case
• Time, place
• Set aims and objectives
• Interview Plan – (Tactical & strategy framework (disclosure, order,
withhold))
• Legal requirements
• Points to prove
• Roles / Other stakeholders

Planning & Preparation (cont’d)
• Interviewee considerations:
• Age
• Gender
• Domestic/Occupational/Educational profile
• Cultural background
• Fitness for interview
• Contingencies? No comment / hostility?

Engage & Explain
• Create a professional and positive first impression
• Establish rapport
• Set out clearly the reason for the interview
• Set out the structure – “During this interview….”
• Explain roles / recording / note-taking etc
• Check on interviewee’s needs/understanding – any questions/worries or
concerns?

Managing the Account -
• The Free Recall model
• The Conversation Management model

The Free Recall model -

The Conversation Management model -

The Free Recall model -
• A model of interviewing designed to illicit a comprehensive narrative
account of an event or incident
• Designed to obtain a full and accurate account from an interviewee
through minimal use of questions
• Proven to facilitate up 47%* increase in recalled information
compared with non-use of the model
• Used when the interviewee has witnessed an ‘episodic’ event
* Fisher, Ronald P.; Geiselman, R Edward; Amador, Michael (1989) Field Test of the Cognitive Interview: Enhancing the
Recollection of Actual Victims and Witnesses of Crime, Journal of Applied Psychology, Issue: Volume 74(5), October
1989, p 722–727.

Overview -
• The Free Recall Model involves:
• An initial open question, such as, “What can you tell me about what
occurred?”
• The follow-up of a couple of contextual questions, place, date & time etc
& introduction of a simple sketch plan (if relevant)
• A full ‘2nd’ free recall in which the interviewee is invited to provide a full,
uninterrupted report of what occurred, from start to finish
• The follow-up with ‘focused recall’ and probing for investigative detail,
topic by topic
• A review

The PEACE Model of
Investigative Interviewing
Conversation Management Model -
• The Conversation Management model has been designed as a
strategically enhanced model which is simple to apply yet highly
effective in any investigative context
• Facilitates what is known as the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE)
which can increase the likelihood of deception being detected by up
to 30%*
*Sleen, van der J. (2009). 'A structured model for Investigative Interviewing of Suspects.' In Bull, R, Valentine, T &
Williamson, T 'Handbook of Psychology of Investigative Interviewing: Current Developments and Future
Directions' (Chapter 3; pp35-53). West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell..

The PEACE Model of
Conversation Management Model -
• The Conversation Management model has been designed as a
strategically enhanced model which is simple to apply yet highly
effective in any investigative context
• Facilitates what is known as the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE)
which can increase the likelihood of deception being detected by up
to 30%
• Designed to maximize evidential outcomes with non-cooperative or
hostile interviewees
• Ethical model of interviewing which has been supported by the UK
Home Office police forces for over 20 years

The PEACE Model of
Overview -
• The Conversation Management model of interviewing involves an
interview strategy based around three clear interview phases:
• 1st phase: The interviewee is invited to provide their account in relation to
the matter under investigation
• 2nd phase: Areas of investigative interest are then covered-off, including
topics not raised by the interviewee
• 3rd phase: Questions are asked which clarify or potentially challenge the
interviewee’s account

Summary -
• The Conversation Management and Free Recall models of
interviewing are inter-changeable and could potentially be used
within the same interview. Their use will depend on:
• What it is that is being discussed
• The level of cooperation being shown by the interviewee

Closure
• Review aims/objectives - have they been covered?
• Advise interviewee the interview is coming to a conclusion
• Provide an overarching summary of interview salient points
• Explain future processes
• Invite questions
• Conclude the interview
• Complete necessary administration

Evaluation
• Evaluate – The interview
• New Information / Evidence
• New actions / lines of enquiry
• Evaluate interview outcomes in context of wider investigation
• Evaluate – The interviewers’ performances
• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• How could we improve?
•

Rapport -
• Rapport can be defined as:
• ‘an interpersonal dynamic of openness and trust between people’ (Ord et
al, 2014)
Ord, B., Shaw, G. and Green, T., (2014). Investigative interviewing explained. 4th ed. Chatswood,
NSW: LexisNexis Butterworths.

Rapport: In Layman’s terms -
• It’s about a natural, warm, communicative style
• It’s about treating the interviewee as you would like to be treated
• It’s about meeting the interviewee’s needs before your own
• It’s about being non-judgemental and neutral
• In a nutshell –
‘just have a chat’…..forensically speaking….

Why establish & maintain rapport? -
• Put quite simply, it works:
• Research has shown that in investigative interviews, rapport has been
shown to increase the reliability and accuracy of recalled information
(Vallano & Compo, 2011)
• Suspects more likely to disclose new information unknown to police in
response to relationship focused interview strategies, rather than
confrontational exchanges (Wachi et al, 2014)
Vallano, J. P., & Compo, N. S. (2011). A comfortable witness is a good witness: Rapport-building and
susceptibility to misinformation in an investigative mock-crime interview. Applied Cognitive Psychology,
25, 960-970.
Wachi, T., Watanabe, K., Yokota, K., Otsuka, Y., Kuraishi, H., & Lamb, M. (2014). Police interviewing styles and confessions
in Japan. Psychology, Crime & Law. 20 (7), 673 - 694.

Conclusion… you can now:
• Understand and describe the working parts of the PEACE model
framework
• Describe the key considerations when planning and preparing for any
type of investigative interview
• Understand how to apply the PEACE model to enhance and further
professionalise your approach to investigative interviewing
• Understand the importance of rapport in an interviewing exchange

The PEACE Model of Investigative Interviewing

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