Funnelly [sic] Enough
Years ago, I was on jury service. The defendant was caught red-handed after a long police car chase. I remember the defendant’s barrister trying to discredit the two police officers, citing inconsistencies in their write-ups of events. One returned to the station around midnight, the other at 3 am. Their recollections of the duration of the chase and the precise timing of events were inconsistent.

Fast forward a decade, and I find myself blindfolded, subjected to the sort of disorientation, sensory overload (then deprivation) that some spooks use to soften up terrorists. Very mild torture, essentially. I’d volunteered for this experiment as part of a postgrad studies in behavioural analysis and investigative interviewing course. After the blindfolds were removed, we (around six of us; I can’t remember many years later 😬) were interviewed. Our job was simple – what happened, where did you go, how long did it take, and what can you remember? Our recollections were wildly different. Estimates for duration alone ranged from 20 minutes to hours.

I remembered the cops on the stand. Our memories fill in the blanks for us.

Why, then, do so many interviews START with when, who, what, and where questions? The ones we’re least likely to get right! Try the funnel below instead.

When we’re taken back, gently, to the start of a story, we might awaken cues from implicit memory (things we took in but don’t remember). You also get us more relaxed, which is vital for any interview that may be stressful or traumatic (i.e., most of them!).

This funnel is not for investigative interviews alone. I use it for risk assessments, compliance reviews, due diligence, and broader intelligence-gathering assignments. The other MAJOR bonus: when we start slower, we get a much better read of the person’s baseline, which makes spotting deviations (signs of emotional activation and deception) much easier.

Ignore what you’ve seen on cop shows and courtroom dramas; start slow and gentle.