Between Investigator and Suspect: The Role of the Working Alliance in Investigative Interviewing

Establishing and Maintaining Rapport in Investigative Interviews of Traumatized Victims: A Qualitative Study

“…This corresponds with other research on the Utøya investigative interviews which described different ways the police interviewers showed support to the victims during the interview (Jakobsen et al, 2016), and, how factors like empathic police officers and being able to provide a coherent narrative contributed to a positive interview experience (Langballe & Schultz, 2017). Even though empathy has not been clearly defined in investigative interviewing (Oxburgh & Ost, 2011), which makes it challenging to know when it is occurring, it is still considered important for the development of rapport (Dando & Oxburgh, 2016;Holmberg, 2004a;Madsen & Holmberg, 2015;Vanderhallen & Vervaeke, 2014).…”

“…Investigative interviewing guidelines sometimes limit rapport-building to a certain phase of the interview, the findings from this study, however, show how the participants approaches the interviewee in different ways in different stages of the interview in order to build rapport. This supports the notion that rapport should be considered a dynamic state that can change over the course of an interaction and is important throughout the interview process (Abbe & Brandon, 2013;Fogarty, Augoustinos, & Kettler, 2013;Ord, Shaw, & Green, 2011;Vanderhallen & Vervaeke, 2014;Walsh & Bull, 2012).…”

Emotional Intelligence in Police Interviews—Approach, Training and the Usefulness of the Concept

“…All these different ways of approaching emotional states to facilitate rapport resonates well with a humanitarian interviewing style described earlier (Holmberg, 2004;Holmberg & Christianson, 2002). Such an approach has proved to have a positive impact on the development of a working alliance with interviewees (Vanderhallen & Vervaeke, 2014;Vanderhallen et al, 2011) along with the amount of information generated and -being .…”

“…Rapport is part of the engage and explain phase, in which the aim is to explain to the interviewee the purpose of the interview and build a working relationship that contributes to the interviewee generating information . Rapport, however, should be considered a dynamic state that can change over the course of an interaction and is important throughout the interview (Abbe & Brandon, 2013;Fogarty, Augoustinos, & Kettler, 2013;Ord, Shaw, & Green, 2011;Vanderhallen & Vervaeke, 2014;Walsh & Bull, 2012). …”

“…Empathy has been defined in various ways throughout history, depending on academic field and perspective (Duan & Hill, 1996;Wispe, 1986). Even though the concept has not been clearly defined in investigative interviewing (Oxburgh & Ost, 2011), it is still considered important for the development of rapport (Dando & Oxburgh, 2016;Holmberg, 2004;Vanderhallen & Vervaeke, 2014). In the cognitive interview, Fisher and Geiselman (1992) suggest that empathy, in addition to personalizing the interview (e.g., addressing the interviewee by using his/her first name, treating the interviewee as an individual with a unique set of needs), should be one of the guiding principles for developing rapport.…”