POLICE OFFICERS’ USE OF EVIDENCE IN SUSPECT INTERVIEWS: HOW AND WHY?

We examined how police officers interview suspects in a situation where they lacked information about a critical phase of a crime, but possessed information on less critical phases. The specific focus was the officers’ planned use of the available information to elicit admissions about the critical phase of the crime. A survey was distributed to police officers (N = 69) containing a fictitious murder case for which they were to prepare an interview with a suspect. The results showed that the investigators planned to disclose the evidence more often in a strategic manner (obtaining the suspect’s statement and exhausting alternative scenarios before revealing the evidence) than in a non-strategic manner (revealing the evidence before requiring an explanation). The investigators’ most frequently reported motivation behind using the evidence strategically was to obtain additional information about the evidence disclosed, rather than to gather admissions about the critical phase for which they lacked information. In other words, the evidence was disclosed strategically more often as an end in itself than as means to an end. The results provide a deeper understanding of the police officers’ interview strategies and add issues to a future research agenda.