Investigative Interviewing: analyzing the experience of application and expanding the network of ambassadors

The Dnipro State University of Internal Affairs has become a platform for presenting and discussing the experience of the National Police of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), and the authorities of the prosecutor’s office in implementing an investigative interviewing methodology in their work.

It is valuable to us that the graduates of the development program ” Investigative Interviewing. Basic” apply their knowledge in practice and share it with their colleagues.

Thus, Yurii Belousov, Head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed in Armed Conflict, Prosecutor General’s Office, Serhii Kushnir, Head of the Pre-trial Investigation Department of the Main Investigations Directorate of SBU, and Khrystyna Podyriako, Head of the Department for Organizing Investigations of Crimes Committed in Armed Conflict of the Main Investigations Directorate of the National Police, spoke about the use of this methodology in the investigation of war crimes.

NABU Senior Detective Volodymyr Vasylchuk shared his experience of using the methodology in investigating top corruption, and Yuliia Usenko, Head of the Department for Protection of Children’s Interests and Combating Domestic Violence of the PGO, talked about her experience of using it in investigating criminal offenses against children.

It should be noted that since 2022, JustGroup has implemented seven development programs on investigative interviewing, one of which was for the universities’ scholars. Work in this area will continue this year with the support of UNDP Ukraine and the Government of Japan and in cooperation with the Norwegian Center for Human Rights (University of Oslo). Knut D. Asplund, Head of the Rule of Law Department at the Norwegian Center, was online that day and told the participants why investigative interviewing is a global standard of investigation at the international level.

“It is precious for us that within the framework of this event, we bring together the voices of representatives of the academic community and practitioners to change approaches in criminal justice towards human-centricity and efficiency in obtaining information. In addition to scaling up basic investigative interviewing programs, the focus of our efforts in the future will be the integration of investigative interviewing into the training programs for law students and practitioners. We believe that soon this methodology will become an integral standard of investigation,” said Vasylyna Yavorska, JustGroup team leader.

Viktoriia Rohalska, Professor of the Dnipro State University of Internal Affairs, is one of the members of the expert group that has started developing investigative interviewing in Ukraine since 2017 and has made great efforts to ensure that materials and knowledge about this methodology are available to students at the university. During her speech, she shared her impressions of participating in development for the universities’ scholars and described her experience of teaching investigative interviewing.

In total, the event was attended by nearly 50 persons, including representatives of the National Police of Ukraine, NABU, the SBU, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), prosecutors involved in the investigation of war crimes, and academic staff of higher education institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The event was organized jointly with the Dnipro State University of Internal Affairs, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, and the Department of Education, Science and Sports of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

“Investigative interviewing is not just a methodology, it is an ideology and a doctrinally new philosophy of conducting such an investigative action as interrogation, which should be integrated into the educational process if we want to systematically improve the quality of practical activities and training of law enforcement officers,” said Maksym Romanov, Head of the Organizational and Scientific Division of the Department of Education, Science and Sports of the MIA of Ukraine.

Within the framework of this event, Vasylyna Yavorska, JustGroup team leader, and Oleksandr Morhunov, Rector of the Dnipro State University of Internal Affairs, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. The purpose of the Memorandum is to coordinate joint research and cultural and educational projects and to promote the study of problems of the current legislation of Ukraine.

Photos: Dnipro State University of Internal Affairs