Investigative Interviewing and Intelligence Gathering

Introduction

This course provides security professionals with advanced skills in conducting structured interviews to gather reliable information during investigations and threat assessments. It focuses on ethical, legal, and psychological techniques to elicit truthful disclosures and detect deception.

Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Conduct professional and legally sound interviews
• Apply effective questioning strategies to elicit information
• Identify inconsistencies and deceptive behavior
• Document findings and preserve intelligence value
• Integrate interviews into broader investigative processes

Target Audience

This course is essential for:

• Security and investigation officers in the oil & gas sector
• Corporate security and compliance investigators
• Engineers or supervisors involved in internal inquiries
• Government enforcement and inspection personnel
• HR and legal teams handling security incidents
• Audit, compliance, and HSE investigation units

Course Topics

• Foundations of investigative interviewing techniques
• Cognitive interviewing and rapport-building
• Question types: open-ended, probing, clarifying, strategic
• Detecting verbal and non-verbal cues of deception
• Avoiding leading questions and coercive tactics
• Legal and ethical boundaries in security interviews
• Interview preparation and information mapping
• Taking statements and ensuring evidential integrity
• Interviewing different subjects: employees, witnesses, suspects
• Using interviews in conjunction with digital evidence
• Interview recording and transcription standards
• Assessing credibility and cross-checking facts
• Interviewing in hostile or sensitive situations
• Debriefing after incidents and intelligence collection
• Case studies of interview failures and best practices