Investigative interviewing and police practice

In the 1990s, Investigative Interviewing was adopted as a specialisation by law-enforcement agencies in Australia that imported theory and practice from several international jurisdictions. Whilst agencies continue to administer basic and intermediate level trainings to police officers, not all agencies engage in advanced interviewing and interview management training initiatives common in overseas jurisdictions (Norway, United Kingdom, Canada). Observations from tertiary education environments and recent operational evidence indicate that interviewing practice across the diverse policing landscape of Australia may be suffering some level of deterioration; with variations to best practice emerging, particularly around the structure and planning of interviews.This chapter will examine the investigative interviewing context here in Australia and seek to draw on the operational and training experienceof the authors to offer academics and practitioners a clarity of understanding in respect of the “Free Recall” (FR) and “Conversation Management” (CM) frameworks used for witness and suspect interviews.The chapter will then look briefly to the future and consider whether technological advances, particularly around eLearning content and scalable online training, may represent an opportunity to address some ofthe key issues impacting investigative interviewing in Australia.