NCJ Number
212255
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2005 Pages: 211-223
Date Published
September 2005
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined British police officers' perceptions of older witnesses (older than 60 years) as well as their opinions about using the cognitive interview (CI) with this group.
Abstract
A total of 159 officers from 19 police forces completed a questionnaire that elicited information on the interview protocols used by the officers, the frequency with which child and older witnesses were encountered, their perceptions of the reliability and thoroughness of older witnesses, the greatest challenges faced in interviewing older witnesses, and their views about using the CI with older witnesses. Just over half of the officers perceived older witnesses to be less reliable and less thorough than younger witnesses. Many officers lacked confidence in the information provided by older witnesses due to their emotional reactions to stressful incidents and impaired memory. Several officers indicated they were inadequately trained and had insufficient time to give to interviewing in general. The number of officers who considered the CI to be helpful with older witnesses was approximately the same as the number who believed it was not helpful. The implications of these findings for officer training are discussed. 1 table and 47 references