Police officers’ perceptions of specialist investigative interviewing skills

Responses to a questionnaire from 81 police officers experienced in specialist investigative interviewing (SH) were content analysed to determine which skills they thought were important in specialist investigative interviewing, and which were present or missing in police officers in general and in themselves. 'Listening' was considered to be the most important skill in SH and all of the other skills listed in the questionnaire were described as 'very important' or 'important'. Generally, the officers believed that all of the listed skills could be improved upon, and that 'preparation', 'open-mindedness' and flexibility' were the skills which were most often missing in police officers who conduct SH (though the officers did not consider these to be missing in themselves).