Enhanced cognitive interview

Question 1

What are the 4 steps of the Fisher and Geiselman original cognitive interview (CI)?

Answer 1

• Reinstate the context
• Report everything
• Recall the events in different orders
• Change perspectives

Question 2

What is the issue with step 4 of the CI?

Answer 2

Change perspectives: Encourages witness to develop false memories which is controversial and can lead to inaccurate accounts.

Question 3

What was the purpose of step 4 CI?

Answer 3

The witness may be the victim so they could be traumatised reliving the events so recalling it from another perspective might be less stressful.

Question 4

What is the difference between the cognitive interview and the enhanced cognitive interview?

Answer 4

The enhanced cognitive interview places little/no emphasis on perspective change

Question 5

What are the steps of the enhanced cognitive interview?

Answer 5

• Rapport building
• Recreate the context of the original event
• Open ended narration
• Questioning
• Closure

Question 6

What is the purpose of rapport building?

Answer 6

• Setting the witness at ease
• Placing them in the correct frame of mind

Question 7

What should happen in the rapport building step?

Answer 7

• The witness holds the key to a successful interview and should be made aware of this fact.
• Let the witness choose at which point in the event they wish to start.
• Listen and allow for pauses.
• witness should feel at ease
• Try to find common points of interest / icebreaker questions

Question 8

What is the most important step of the cognitive interview?

Answer 8

Context reinstatement

Question 9

What should happen in the context reinstatement step?

Answer 9

• Invite the witness to close their eyes and place themselves back at the scene.
• Remember associated events including sights, smells and sounds.
• Emotions before, during and after the event.

Question 10

What should happen in the open-ended narration step?

Answer 10

• Witness describes the event of their own accord without prompts from the operator/interviewer
• Don’t interrupt or talk very much but give them social awards in the form of smiling or nodding.
• When you’re not talking it encourages the other person to talk because people don’t like awkward pauses.
• You should make trigger notes during this, this is used as the basis for follow-up questions

Question 11

What happens in the questioning step?

Answer 11

• Interviewer plays a more central role than in step 3 but the witness remains in control.
• Focussed retrieval
• Use open ended questions.
• Do not interrupt.
• Allow for long pauses.
• Witness compatible questioning
• Conduct the interview at the witness’s pace rather than dictating the pace yourself.
• Avoid biased questions.
• Include ‘describe’ questions

Question 12

What is an interview defined as in accordance with the Codes of Practice?

Answer 12

• An interview is the questioning of a person regarding their involvement in a criminal offence or offences which under paragraph C10.1 must be carried out under caution.
• Whenever a person is interviewed they must be informed of the nature of the offence, or further offence.

Question 13

What are the police required to apply to when interviewing witnesses?

Answer 13

ADVOKATE
re R v Turnball

Question 14

What does the A stand for in ADVOKATE?

Answer 14

A - Amount of time under observation: How long did the witness have the person/incident in view?

Question 15

What does the D stand for in ADVOKATE?

Answer 15

D - Distance: What was the distance between the witness and the person/incident?

Question 16

What does the V stand for in ADVOKATE?

Answer 16

V - Visibility: What was the visibility at the time? Factors include time of day, street lighting, etc.

Question 17

What does the O stand for in ADVOKATE?

Answer 17

O - Obstruction: Were there any obstructions to the view of the witness?

Question 18

What does the K stand for in ADVOKATE?

Answer 18

K - Known or seen before: Did the witness know, or had the witness ever seen, the person before? If so, where and when?

Question 19

What does the 2nd A stand for in ADVOKATE?

Answer 19

A - Any reason to remember: Did the witness have any special reason for remembering the person/incident? Was there something specific that made the person/incident memorable?

Question 20

What does the T stand for in ADVOKATE?

Answer 20

T - Time-lapse: How long has elapsed since the witness saw the person/incident?

Question 21

What does the E stand for in ADVOKATE?

Answer 21

E - Error or material discrepancy: Are there any errors or material discrepancies between descriptions in the first and subsequent accounts of the witness

Question 22

What happens in the closure step?

Answer 22

• Brief the witness as to what will happen next.
• Exchange contact details and ask them to get in touch if they remember anything else (but maybe too late to alter the composite).
• Leave the witness in a positive frame of mind.