Investigative interview: changing the mindset of investigators and prosecutors
The implementation of an investigative interview instead of traditional interrogations is a modern global trend aimed at increasing the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies. JustGroup is taking effort to make this trend a common practice of every investigator.
How it all started
In Ukraine, the investigative interview (II) initiative was launched by the Human Rights and Justice Program of the International Renaissance Foundation in 2018. Back then, an expert group was set up to research the topic and best methods of its implementation in Ukraine. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine became the first institution to start using II. Then there was a long work on the study Tell me what happened or confess, which was presented in 2020. And already in 2022, the JustGroup team began working on the design of a development solution — the training program Investigative interview. Basics. It was piloted in October in the Training Center for Prosecutors of Ukraine.
The next important stage in the development of II practice in Ukrainian criminal justice was the partnership with the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. The Centre has several areas of activity that include research, training and education. In particular, the Centre’s experts provide training to practitioners in investigative interviewing and promote Mendez principles around the world. Together, we developed the training programme “Investigative interviewing for fair and effective justice.” Investigators, detectives and prosecutors first joined the online component of the programme, and at the end of September, they took part in the offline stage.
Training programme in Krakow
More than 30 practitioners from various institutions of the criminal justice system – the Prosecutor General’s Office, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the National Police and the academia – took part in the programme. All of them have received the basic training and will later form the core of the trainer expert team. The training included five days of instruction. It was provided by the best international experts in investigative interviewing who have a lot of experience and competence to work with the requests of the participants. In particular, the trainers included practitioners who 20 years ago initiated change and became leaders in their institutions and professional groups, such as Dr. Ivar A. Fahsing. Notably, he is a co-author of the UNPOL Investigative interview Guide and the new UNODC Investigative interview Online Program.
“I was very impressed by the high competence of the invited experts. Their speeches created the effect of the need for an immediate rethinking of approaches to the investigative interview procedure. The value of the program is about the exchange of experience with people who face similar challenges in other countries and have developed their approach and tools. The use of new practice in our realities is an opportunity to follow the path of progress and development of an investigative interview in the shortest possible time. The importance of participating in the program will be noticeable when this approach will be implemented in practice, in our legal system,” Dmytro Shevchuk, Deputy Head of the War Crimes Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine, shared his impressions.
Our cooperation with the Centre was not limited to one event. After that, a number of webinars were held for Ukrainian practitioners, notably with the participation of Dr. Ivar A. Fahsing and Professor Rebecca Milne. We are happy that we have already outlined the horizons of cooperation in the coming year – specifically, we will jointly strengthen the competencies of investigators and prosecutors, which are necessary in investigative interviews with children.
Training program for teachers of higher education institutions After interacting with practitioners, we learned that the introduction of the investigative interview into the educational process is necessary stage for making sure that the law enforcement agencies use it in their activities. For this purpose, we initiated the development of the training program “Investigative interview for teachers of higher education institutions.” Having secured the support of the Government of Japan and UNDP in Ukraine, on November 15-17, 2023, we conducted training for 26 representatives from 17 higher education institutions in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi and other cities.
Experienced trainers were engaged to work with the participants: Iryna Hlushchenkova and Vasylyna Yavorska (JustGroup), Yuriy Bielousov (PGO), Volodymyr Vasylchuk (NABU), Andrii Orleans (TCPU), Viktoriia Rohalska (Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs) and Oksana Bronevytska (Lviv State University of Internal Affairs). At this stage, the new members of the trainer expert team – representatives of the prosecutor’s office Olesia Voloshyna, Viktoriia Livochka, Ihor Polshykov and NABU detective Olena Dyba – tried themselves as trainers for the first time.
“As we work with teachers, we close the circle of disseminating the idea of investigative interview not only in practice, but also in the minds of future practitioners. In this way, gradually, from different sides, we are changing public attitudes to interrogations and generally we are increasing trust in law enforcement agencies,” Viktoriia Livochka, prosecutor of the Sviatoshynskyi District Prosecutor’s Office of the city of Kyiv shared.
Standards of investigative interview
Development of investigative interview standards is a long and important work that united pioneer practitioners of this technique in Ukrainian institutions. The detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, who were the first to implement the investigative interview in their daily activities, participated in the development of the Standards.
“Since 2019, the methodology of the investigative interview has become a mandatory element of my investigations. I realized that it gives more opportunities to collect complete and reliable information – notably, where the person being questioned does not want to provide such information. This technique significantly improved the effectiveness of interrogations. But, in addition to interrogations, the methods that are part of this methodology help in the performance of other tasks, such as operative activities,” says Volodymyr Vasylchuk, Head of the Detective Department of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
The presentation (🎥) and discussion of the Standards took place in the Prosecutor General’s Office. It is a great value when institutions talk about innovative approaches, which have already taken root in investigations in many countries, which are changing and will change the criminal justice system at the conceptual level.
“We are changing this by introducing a modern, systematized international quality standard for collecting information and voluntary testifying. The investigative interview guides the law enforcement officers to a systematic and comprehensive investigation of the circumstances of a crime and prevents premature conclusions. The effectiveness of this method is also confirmed by our partners from the International Criminal Court,” said Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin.
Investigative interview for practitioners
Nonviolent communication is one of the safeguards of human rights observation during the investigation. This method of communication is the basis of investigative interview. During training programs for practitioners, we focused on the use of investigative interviewing tools for effective investigation and prevention of torture.
Notably, in partnership with the Office of the Council of Europe in Ukraine, training was provided to the investigators of the State Bureau of Investigation, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine, and prosecutors of the War Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The participants worked with an end-to-end case, which enabled deeper understanding of nonviolent communication, developing an algorithm for using investigative interview along with key tools such as free narration, conversation management, strategic use of evidence.
“It was interesting to observe how the participants transformed their perception of this technique. As a trainer and teacher a, I feel a lot of value to hear the opinions of investigators and prosecutors about the possibility, expediency and readiness to apply this method in their current practice,” Viktoriia Rogalska, trainer, associate professor of the Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs, shared her insights.
This year, JustGroup significantly expanded the group of investigative interview champions in Ukrainian investigative bodies and the prosecutor’s office. With the support of partners, a number of training programs and events were organized for more than 100 representatives of law enforcement agencies, as well as teachers of higher education institutions. Cooperation with the staff of the Prosecutor General’s Office and regional prosecutor’s offices, investigators of the National Police of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine who investigate war crimes, became the final and one of the most critical events this year.
“Interrogation is the most common type of investigative action. It helps collect basic evidence regarding the circumstances that the prosecution needs to establish, check the proposed leads and to determine further directions of the investigation. At the same time, not enough attention is paid to the methodology of interrogation that the investigators and prosecutors use. Basic training in the implementation of investigative interviewing changes the current view of established practice. It is not just about a new, evidence-based method of conducting interrogations, but above all about an effective way to collect information from the person being interrogated. It is also about structuring the information already available during the investigation, work planning, a team approach to the performance of complex tasks,” Taras Semkiv,Deputy Head of the War Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office, highlighted.
Next steps
Any ambitious plans consist of small steps. Our initiative moves these steps slows but surely. Development of the basic training program, creation of investigative interview standards, formation of the core of the national trainer team are what we have already managed to achieve. We are growing the community of champions of this technique and supporting people who are ready to scale it. We are grateful to our partners — the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine, and the Office of the Council of Europe in Ukraine — for their support along the way. We appreciate the commitment of institutions to change approaches in their work.
“The key focuses of our further efforts will be the development of a national expert trainer team, interaction with teachers, and later work on training courses on investigative interviewing for law schools. We will work on expanding the audience of practitioners from various pre-trial investigation bodies and the prosecutor’s office, who use the investigative interview method,” the leader of JustGroup Vasylyna Yavorska reported about future workstreams of the organization.
Iryna Hlushchenkova, JustGroup consultant and trainer, believes that the benefits of the program will go far beyond the training effect – they are about emotional charge, empowerment and motivation to review the usual individual approaches.
“The experience of interacting with our group of participants makes me believe that they will be drivers of change at the level of units, institutions and the criminal justice system. We will continue to find solutions and formats to support practitioners in implementing changes and ensure their sustainability. Now, we will do it in partnership with the best international specialists in the field of investigative interviews,” says Iryna Hlushchenkova.
Changing approaches to interrogation is possible through focused actions of institutions and their representatives. A prerequisite for such changes may be the development of a national strategy for the introduction of investigative interview, which will entail consolidation of efforts of various institutions around the implementation of systemic changes in this area.
The Standards are available for download on the JustTalk website.
