Ian Harm

Over the years throughout my police service I attended various interviewing courses and underwent extensive training in investigative interviewing. The best interview courses I ever attended were in respect of the use of the Home Office approved P.E.A.C.E. interview model. During the courses I was taught cognitive interviewing, conversation management style interviewing and also the use of SE3R techniques. I found them very useful and enjoyable courses.


Interviewing skill like many other skills is acquired through training, practice and consolidation by repeated use of the techniques. Although as a private investigator I regularly interview people, generally those interviews tend not to be conducted with the same formality of the police interview, especially those police interviews conducted with suspects. For one thing, the interviews are not overtly recorded by video or audio facilities and are not generally subject to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. That is unless I am interviewing someone in respect of a criminal offence whereupon the interview will be subject to the full scrutiny of the criminal justice system.


It is very easy to become deskilled at something if you don’t keep practicing it; use it or lose it is the favourite expression.
With this in mind I bought this book from Amazon.co.uk about the subject of investigative interviewing. It is written by Dr Eric Shepherd, the father of the PEACE Model, the SE3R and conversation management technique. Amongst other things it explains the psychological underpinning of the Conversation Management technique which lies at the heart of the PEACE interviewing model and I have found it invaluable as a refresher text to those interview courses that I have previously attended.


I regularly refer to this book to maintain my interview skills and feel that it really is a worthwhile publication for anyone involved in the investigative process.

Investigative Interviewing: The Conversation Management Approach