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Where bias begins: a snapshot of police officers’ beliefs about factors that influence the investigative interview with suspects
Adams-Quackenbush, Nicole Horselenberg, Robert van Koppen, Peter J
Adams-Quackenbush, Nicole
Horselenberg, Robert
van Koppen, Peter J
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2018-11-10
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Abstract
The aim of the current study was to obtain a snapshot of police officer’s beliefs about factors that may influence the outcome of the investigative interview with suspects. We created a 26-item survey that contained statements around three specific themes: best interview practices, confessions and interviewee vulnerabilities. Police officers (N = 101) reported their beliefs on each topic by indicating the level of agreement or disagreement with each statement. The findings indicated that this sample of officers held beliefs that were mostly consistent with the literature. However, many officers also responded in the mid-range (neither agree nor disagree) which may indicate they are open to developing literature-consistent beliefs of the topics. Understanding what officers believe about factors within the investigative interview may have implications for future training. It may also help explain why some officers do not consistently apply best practices (i.e. strong counterfactual beliefs) versus officers who reliably apply literature-consistent practices to their interviews (i.e. knowledge-consistent beliefs).
Citation
Adams-Quackenbush, N.M., Horselenberg, R. & van Koppen, P.J. (2018) Where bias begins: a snapshot of police officers’ beliefs about factors that influence the investigative interview with suspects, Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 2018, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9301-1
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Journal article
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en
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0882-0783
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1936-6469
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This research is supported by a fellowship awarded from the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Program, The House of Legal Psychology (EMJD-LP) with Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) 2013-0036 and Specific Grant Agreement (SGA) 2015-1610 awarded to Nicole Adams.