PurposePolice invest significant time, energy and resources to equip officers with the skills required to conduct effective investigative interviews. However, transferring those skills acquired or developed in a training environment for application in the police workplace is a journey fraught with impediments and diversions. Invariably, the quality and amount of skills transferred and applied on the job represent a paltry return on resource investment. This research explores the factors that impact the transfer of investigative interviewing skills from the training environment to the police workplace.Design/methodology/approachInterviews with 40 officers, both uniformed and plain-clothes, were conducted to explore the influences on and impediments to effective skill transfer. Data were inductively analysed and thematically pattern-matched with existing research findings in the adult training domain.FindingsResults indicate that trainee motivation, perceptions of training relevance, perceptions of training quality and preparedness to conduct the task as trained directly and indirectly influence the degree to which investigative interviewing skills transfer from the training environment to the police workplace.Originality/valueThis is original research in a domain that has previously received limited academic attention. An awareness of the factors that negatively impact on the transfer of acquired skills and ways to mitigate or ameliorate the detrimental effects are likely to assist police trainers and workplace managers to improve transfer rates and get more outcome value for the money, time and effort invested in training regimes.

PurposeOnline production and transmission of child abuse material (CAM) is a complex and growing global problem. The exponential increase in the volume of CyberTips of CAM offending is placing information processing and decision-making strains on law enforcement. This paper presents the outcomes of a project that reviewed an existing risk assessment tool and then developed a new tool for CAM triaging and investigative prioritisation.Design/methodology/approachUsing a mixed method approach, the authors first explored the capacity of an existing risk assessment tool for predicting a police action. The authors then used these findings to design and implement a replacement CAM decision support tool. Using a random sample of CyberTip alert cases from 2018, the authors then tested the efficiency of the new tool.FindingsThe existing risk assessment tool was not fit for CAM triaging purposes. Just six questions from the old tool were found to be statistically and significantly associated with law enforcement agents achieving a police action. The authors found that an immediate threat of abuse/endangering a child, potential case solvability, CAM image assessment, chat assessment, criticality and some weighting for professional judgement were significant in being associated with a police action. The new decision support tool is more efficient to complete and achieved a 93.6% convergence of risk ratings with the old tool using 2018 case data.Originality/valueThis research is unique in its development of an evidence-based decision support tool that enhances the ability of law enforcement agents to objectively and efficiently triage and prioritise increasing numbers of CyberTip alerts.

The ability of a police officer to elicit case-relevant information from a witness, victim, or suspect of a crime is a fundamental component of policing capability. The skills required to conduct an effective interview are not innate requiring police officers to be formally trained. The structural design, teaching, and assessment methods employed in the delivery of investigative interviewing training are assumed to directly impact a trainee’s level of engagement and level of interviewing knowledge and skills acquired. This paper uses a qualitative case study approach to observe how core investigative interviewing skills are acquired through formal training. Our findings suggest a relationship between the adult learning construct adopted, the levels of learner engagement generated, and the achievement of desired learning outcomes. Our findings will inform future designs of investigative interviewing training that seek to maximize both learning outcomes and returns on resource investments.

The ability of a police officer to elicit case-relevant information from a witness, victim or suspect of a crime is a fundamental component of policing capability. The police officer must be able to elicit accurate, complete and timely information from the individual in a manner that is effective, efficient and legally compliant. The officer must also be able to adapt their elicitation techniques to suit the circumstances of the encounter -whether it is a roadside field interview with a witness to a vehicle accident or a formal investigative interview of a homicide suspect. The interpersonal and communication skills required to effectively undertake the elicitation task, I propose, comprise both 'hard' procedural and 'soft' cognitive components. Neither hard nor soft interviewing skills are typically innate and the police officer must be formally trained in their uses. Once acquired in the training environment, the skills must then be transferred effectively and applied regularly in a workplace setting. At each junction in the acquisition-transfer-application pathway a variety of factors will either enable or inhibit the journey and, ultimately, impact on the effectiveness of the investigative interview that is conducted in the workplace. Using the Queensland Police Service (QPS) as a case study, my research expands upon existing knowledge associated with the skill acquisition-transfer-application pathway. The research also addresses research gaps associated with training delivery and workplace utilisation of both hard and soft investigative interviewing skills.My findings suggest that there is an imbalance of emphasis on hard skills in investigative interviewing training with soft skills relegated to a cursory status. My findings also indicate that QPS Level 1 (Foundation) investigative interviewing training is not satisfying the skill demands of the most common interviewing scenarios for uniformed officers -the Field Interview. My findings suggest that the acquisition-transfer-application pathway for QPS Level 2 (Complex Investigations) is, with some adjustments, more likely to lead to effective investigative interviews. My research has implications for both the design and delivery of investigative interviewing training and the future development and management of this key component of policing capability.iii Declaration by authorThis thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis.