Be Prepared to Communicate Part II

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Be Prepared to Communicate Part II
Expect the Unexpected Are We Clearly Prepared?

• Dean Benard, RN, LL.M (ADR)
• Benard Associates

Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation
2006 Annual Conference
Alexandria, Virginia
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Todays Objectives

• Interviewing the victim
• The overzealous interviewee
• The reluctant interviewee
• Assessing credibility

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In Our Dreams!
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Closer to Our Reality
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Deny Deny Deny
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Interviewing Techniques

• Human memory often requires assistance to
  retrieve details and facts
• Provide some general information about the events
• Careful not to lead the interviewee
• Use documents that might assist in recollection

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Interviewing Techniques

• Allow the witness to tell her/his story in full
  then seek clarification or ask follow-up
  questions
• This can be a challenge with some witnesses who
  require more prompting or assistance to stay on
  point

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Interviewing Techniques

• Be careful not to make notes too early in the
  interview
• Maintain control of the interview but be subtle
• If support person present
• Explain ground rules No commentary
• Support person sits behind the witness

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The Overzealous Interviewee
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The Overzealous Interviewee
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The Overzealous Interviewee

• What went wrong here?
• The interviewer lost control
• Allowed her emotions to come in
• Alienated the interview subject
• Failed to get the information she needed

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The Overzealous Interviewee
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The Overzealous Interviewee

• What went right here?
• Maintained control of the interview
• Guided the witness through prompting and positive
  comments
• Maintained witness cooperation
• Got and will get the information he needs

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Interviewing Victims

• If a support person is present
• Explain ground rules No commentary
• Support person sits behind the interviewee
• Ensure the comfort of the interviewee
  cigarette, washroom, drink be respectful
• Assure interviewee that he/she can ask questions
  and take breaks if needed
• Acknowledge how difficult disclosure is

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Interviewing Victims

• Explain to the interviewee that there will be
  difficult questions
• Explain how you will conduct the interview
• Provide reasons for audio / videotape
• Assure the interviewee that he/she may not
  remember everything and thats okay

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Interviewing Victims

• Have the interviewee describe the incident(s)
  without interruption
• Try to demonstrate active listening. Dont keep
  your head down writing what they say thats why
  you have a tape recorder
• Write down notes to remind you of questions or
  points of clarification you require later on
• Let the interviewee move at her/his pace

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Interviewing Victims

• Dont be afraid to ask the difficult questions!
• Ensure there is no doubt about what happened
  (e.g. sexual abuse allegation)
• Slept together (what does this mean?)
• What does the person mean by intercourse?
• Sexual relations What does this mean? could be
  anything depending on who you ask

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Interviewing a Victim
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The Overzealous Witness

• What went wrong here?
• Unprofessional
• Rude
• Callous
• Came across as having disdain for the interviewee
• Made the interviewee uncomfortable
• Re-victimized the victim
• The result Les useful information

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Interviewing a Victim
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The Overzealous Witness

• What went right here?
• Gave her time
• Was non-judgmental
• Was non-threatening
• Focused on clarification to ensure he got the
  right information
• Ensured the interviewee was as comfortable as
  possible

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Interviewing Techniques

• Not all witnesses will be
• forthcoming with information
• Answering questions with questions
• Repeat the question as you originally asked it
• Phrases like thats basically it or I guess
  thats all I can remember
• Consider this an admission that he/she has more
  to tell keep probing

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Interviewing Techniques

• Not all witnesses will be forthcoming
• with information
• Hypothetically structured phrases like I would
  normally do this is a signal of possible
  avoidance of providing a direct answer.
• Remind him/her that you want to know what they
  did, not what they normally do

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Interviewing Techniques

• Not all witnesses will be forthcoming
• with Information
• Indignation about a question may signal deception
  e.g. what kind of question is that, I wouldn't
  dignify that question with an answer
• Stay calm and repeat the question with an
  explanation why it must be asked

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Interviewing Techniques

• Not all witnesses will be forthcoming with
• Information
• Answers like its hard to say or thats a hard
  one to answer indicates possible credibility
  issues later
• Make note of this and keep probing. Consider
  asking why the question is so hard to answer

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The Uncooperative Interviewee
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The Uncooperative Interviewee

• What went wrong here?
• Confrontational
• Defensive
• Met a bad attitude with the same bad attitude
• Didnt probe other things to get the interviewee
  talking
• Angered an already less than cooperative witness
• Didnt get the information she needed

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The Uncooperative Interviewee
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The Uncooperative Interviewee

• What went right here?
• Maintained control of his emotions
• Shifted focus of discussion to less threatening
  issue
• The behavior of the client
• Sympathized with the interviewee
• Pointed out conflicting information
• Used silence effectively

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The Uncooperative Interviewee

• Shift questions to another person or topic to at
  least get them talking
• Try to show some sympathy with the persons
  situation
• Point out things that are odd and ask them to
  comment
• Use silence to apply pressure

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Assessing Credibility

• All credibility, all good
• conscience, all evidence of truth
• come only from the senses
• -Friedrich Nietzsche-
• German Philosopher 1844-1900

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Assessing Credibility

• Is the witness forthcoming with information or
  reluctant?
• Does the witness seem too eager to provide
  information?
• Can the information be corroborated by other
  witnesses or documentary evidence?
• Does the witness stand up well to a challenge by
  the interviewer?

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Kinesic Interviewing Techniques

• Negation
• Contact with head that covers the eyes nose mouth
  or ears
• Aversion
• Movement of the body away from the interviewer
• Contradiction
• Verbal and non verbal dont match

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Other Techniques

• Ask the interviewee to repeat the story in
  reverse chronology
• People cant lie in reverse
• Statement Analysis
• Written statements can be analyzed for truth look
  for a blip sandwiched between long descriptions
  of less relevant information

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CREDITS

• The College of Nurses of Ontario
• Andrea Burck Interviewee
• Shelley Ledger Bad Investigator
• Luke LaRocque- Good Interviewer
• Lynda Tyson - Lady wanting Salt
• Sophia Stefou - Waitress

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Speaker Contact Information

• Dean Benard
• Benard Associates
• 10 Duke Street Suite 300, Waterloo,
• Ontario, Canada Address
• Phone [phone], Fax [phone]
• dbenard_at_benardandassociates.com
• www.benardandassociates.com